Myanmar: Nobel Peace Prize laureate Tutu urges China to intervene

Sep 28, 2007, 15:39 GMT

Stockholm/Oslo - Nobel Peace Prize laurate Desmond Tutu Friday urged China to intervene in the ongoing confrontations in Myanmar.

'China, you have leverage - tell those brutal men to stop their brutality,' Tutu said during a protest organized at the Goteborg Book Fair in the Swedish west coast city of Gothenburg.

Tutu said that if China did not take a stance against the military rulers in Myanmar he would 'join a campaign to boycott the Beijing Olympics' next year.

Other speakers at the protest included former Swedish Archbishop K G Hammar and Swedish International Development Cooperation Minister Gunilla Carlsson.

Earlier Friday, some 50 Swedish parliamentarians gathered for a protest while celebrities and schoolchildren wore red shirts as part of a global call to 'wear red' in support of the Myanmar opposition.

A chain of text messages as well as calls on blogs have spread the message to wear red on Friday symbolizing the saffron-coloured robes worn by Buddhist monks who in recent days have been targeted by the military rulers of Myanmar.

Oslo is also base for the opposition radio station Democratic Voice of Burma that broadcasts to Myanmar.

The station, which also broadcasts a few hours of television programmes a week, was Friday to broadcast footage from a Norwegian gathering organized by among others the Norwegian Burma Committee, the Norwegian Confederation of Trade Unions and the Norwegian branch of Amnesty International.

Speakers included former prime minister Kjell Magne Bondevik.

Union leader union leader Roar Flathen wore red Friday to show his support for the democratic opposition.