Beijing - Hundreds of people demonstrated Thursday outside Carrefour stores in China, chanting slogans against the French retailer and Tibet independence, the official news agency Xinhua reported.

Carrefour and France became targets of a nationalist campaign in China after the tumultuous Paris leg of the Olympic torch relay last month.

Stores in Changsha, capital of the south-central province of Hunan; Fuzhou, capital of the eastern coastal province of Fujian; and Shenyang, capital of the north-eastern province of Liaoning, were the scene of protests Thursday.

Demonstrators carried and handed out Chinese flags and unfurled banners reading "Love China," "Oppose Tibet Independence," "Unity is Power" and "Support the Olympics," Xinhua said.

In Changsha, about 200 protesters tried to talk customers out of shopping at Carrefour.

The rallies followed similar demonstrations last month outside Carrefour stores in other Chinese cities, including Beijing and Hefei, where a shop was vandalized.

Chinese who saw the pro-Tibet protests and chaos surrounding the April 7 torch run in Paris as an affront to China have called for boycotts of Carrefour and French products.

Carrefour has been accused of having links to exiled Tibetans, but the chain denied that it supports any political groups and said it backs the August Olympic Games in Beijing.

Last week, China's Commerce Ministry issued a statement in support of Carrefour and its business in China, where it has 112 stores, employs 40,000 and buys many of the products it sells.

During the Paris relay, the Olympic torch was extinguished at least twice, and the relay itself was cut short because of numerous protests along its route against the Chinese crackdown in Tibet in March and China's human rights record. (dpa)