BEIJING: Fresh anti-Western protests broke out in China yesterday with angry demonstrators targeting CNN and French store Carrefour in rows over perceived bias, Tibet and the Beijing Olympics.

Protesters in Xian, Harbin and Jinan defied a huge police crackdown to chant slogans and hold banners that read "Oppose Tibet independence", "Oppose CNN's anti-China statements" and "Boycott Carrefour", a participant said.

"This was a patriotic movement, people want CNN and Carrefour to apologise," Wang Zheng, a protester at a Carrefour store in Xian, said.

"We oppose Tibetan and Taiwan independence and we also oppose the politicisation of the Olympic Games."

As demonstrations continued for a second day, France said it was sending two envoys with messages from President Nicolas Sarkozy, who has been unpopular over his threat to boycott the Olympics opening ceremony.

Former French prime minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin arrives on Wednesday while the president's top diplomatic adviser, Jean-David Levitte, is due in next weekend.

Anti-French feeling was fanned by Paris's chaotic leg of the Olympic torch relay, while Carrefour's 122 supermarkets here have been subject to boycotts over its alleged support of Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama, which it denies.

Protesters are also lashing out at the CNN TV network over its commentator Jack Cafferty, who caused outrage last week when he called the Beijing leadership "goons and thugs" and slammed the quality of Chinese exports.

The protests follow noisy anti-China demonstrations in London, Paris and San Francisco that have marred the international Beijing Olympic torch relay, an event aimed at promoting this year's Games.

Meanwhile, Nepalese soldiers and police guarding the slopes of Mount Everest have been authorised to shoot to stop any protests during China's Olympic torch run to the summit.

Chinese climbers plan to take the torch to the summit of Everest in the first few days of May. During that time, other climbers will be banned from the mountain's higher elevations.

Police and soldiers "have been given orders to stop any protest on the mountain using whatever means necessary, including use of weapons", Nepal's Home Ministry said, adding that the use of deadly force was authorised only as a last resort.

Separately, the 1,400-year-old Japanese Buddhist temple of Zenkoji Temple in Nagano, was vandalised with white spray paint after it withdrew from plans to be the start point for the Japanese leg of the relay on April 26 because of China's crackdown in Tibet.

And, IOC president Jacques Rogge yesterday promised that athletes would be free to express themselves at the Beijing Olympics but urged them to respect the Games. He told France 2 television: "Athletes will have the chance to express themselves freely in all public areas in China."