An Associated Press photographer says the man was taking part in a demonstration by Uighurs outside the embassy to coincide with the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games.
Police and other demonstrators rushed to extinguish the flames.
The man was taken to hospital and there was no immediate news on his condition.
In New Delhi, nearly 3,000 Tibetans shouting anti-China slogans braved heavy rains to protest near India’s parliament against the Olympics being staged by China.
Several hundred human rights activists rallied outside the Chinese embassy in Paris yesterday after a court overturned a police ban on demonstrations.
Marching behind a banner depicting the five Olympic rings as handcuffs, about 200 supporters of media watchdog Reporters Without Borders walked from Champs-Elysees to the Chinese embassy. They were joined by 200 to 300 human rights activists and pro-Tibetan demonstrators who had staged a separate rally near the Eiffel Tower, carrying five coffins and banners calling for “Freedom for Tibet.”
A small group of Uighur Muslims also joined in the rally, along with a handful of demonstrators from Myanmar.
In London, about 300 protesters gathered opposite the Chinese embassy, many of them Tibetan exiles wearing red headbands bearing one word: “Killed.”
And in Brussels, around 200 Tibetan protesters, some chained together or wearing “bloody” bandages, protested near the headquarters of EU institutions.
PATRIOTISM
Meanwhile, thousands of Chinese waving national flags thronged main Beijing streets yesterday, greeting the opening of the Olympic Games with a huge outpouring of national pride.
While the opening ceremony in the main Bird’s Nest stadium may have been all about world harmony, the message on the streets was about patriotism, with the Chinese flag much more in evidence than those with the Olympic logo.
“We want to show the world the real China, because a lot of people don’t understand our country and try to demonise it,” said Wan Qian, 23, with red “I love China” stickers plastered on her face and T-shirt, watching the ceremony on an outdoor screen.
Many people wore T-shirts emblazoned with logos in Chinese or English, some reading “Listen to China’s voice” and “I love China now more than ever.”
Also See: BEIJING 2008
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