Three of the biggest sponsors of the Olympic Torch Relay; Coca-cola, Lenovo and Samsung, have pulled out of the Japanese leg of the international torch relay amid fears that they may be targetted by protestors.
A spokesperson for Coca-cola stated that they would be unable to operate under the 'maximum security' environment of the Torch Relay in Japan. This news comes after monks at the Zenkoji Temple in Nagano said that due to China's violent repression of the protests in Tibet, the Temple could no longer be used as the starting point for the relay in Japan.
This is the first sign of that sponsors of the Olympics have been affected by the situation in China and Tibet, though naturally none of them stated that as their reason. Samsung were concerend about the procssion being too long and Lenovo cited 'budgetary restraints'.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/olympics/article3771039.ece
http://chinaolympicshame.blogspot.com/
19/04/08 @ 04:03