French Socialists want Tibetan flag on parliament

PARIS (Reuters) - A senior member of France's opposition Socialists has proposed flying the Tibetan flag from the roof of the National Assembly when the Olympic torch passes through Paris next week.

Jean-Marc Ayrault, head of the Socialist parliamentary group, made the formal proposal in a letter to Bernard Accoyer, president of the National Assembly, the lower house of France's parliament. The letter was released to the media on Thursday.

"The passage of the flame is a highly symbolic moment, it seems unthinkable that France's national representative body should not express its attachment to the universal values of human rights and its support to victims of the Chinese regime," he said in the letter.

There was no immediate response to the proposal from Accoyer.

The passage of the Olympic torch through Paris on Monday is expected to attract numerous symbolic protests against China's suppression of protests in the Tibetan capital Lhasa and surrounding regions.

The Tibetan flag will also be raised over several town halls in France including in Ayrault's city of Nantes and in Villeurbanne, in southeast France.

(Reporting by James Mackenzie; Editing by Giles Elgood)