Shame! Shame! China Shame! Beijing Olympic Torch Became Symbol of Shame
-- Protesters Disrupt Paris Torch Relay
Protesters Disrupt Paris Torch Relay
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What was supposed to be a majestic procession for the Olympic torch
through the French capital was disrupted Monday as thousands of people
from around Europe, many with Tibetan flags, massed to protest the
passage of the flame, forcing police officers to bring the torch onto a
bus to try to protect it and causing the torch to be extinguished at
least once.
Photo: Bertrand Langlois/Agence France-Presse -- Getty Images
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Security men tackled a protester, left, as Stephane Diagana, right, the
400-meter world champion in 1997 who is now president of France's
national athletics league, carried the Olympic torch at the beginning of
its relay at the Eiffel Tower.
Photo: Christophe Ena/Associated Press
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It was yet another unscripted moment in the passage of the Olympic
flame, and the second time in two days that the torch relay had been
disrupted in a European capital.
Photo: Lucas Dolega/European Pressphoto Agency
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Some 3,000 police officers in Paris - on foot, horseback, roller blades,
motorbikes and even boats in the river Seine - tried to prevent a repeat
of the scenes in London on Sunday, when the torch's progression through
the streets turned into a tumult of scuffles.
Photo: Benoit Tessier/Reuters
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Tibetan organizations have said they plan protests at every stop on the
torch's 21-nation tour. After Paris, it moves to San Francisco, its only
American stop, on Wednesday. The monthlong tour is scheduled to end in
Vietnam; it is to be followed by a six-week, 46-stop tour of China.
Photo: Thibault Camus/Associated Press
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French police grappled with a demonstrator trying to grab the torch.
What organizers had billed as an occasion to celebrate the Olympics'
s****ting ideals of peace and harmony is turning into a contest between
China's sup****ters and critics.
Photo: Pool photo by Patrick Kovarik
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Activists climbed the Eiffel tower and unfurled a flag with the five
Olympic rings depicted as handcuffs.
Photo: Francois Mori/Associated Press
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Police dragged away protesters trying to disrupt the torch relay. French
authorities appeared determined to try to spare China - and Paris -
similar embarrassment or disorder as London, resorting to measures
normally reserved for a visiting head of state.
Photo: Jacky Naegelen/Reuters
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Despite tremendous security, at least two activists got within almost an
arm's length of the flame before they were grabbed by police officers.
Photo: Thibault Camus/Associated Press
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Retired French tennis player Arnaud Di Pasquale carried an extinguished
Olympic torch to a bus for safe keeping. A police spokeswoman, speaking
on condition of anonymity in accordance with policy, said the torch went
out "for technical reasons" unrelated to the protests, without offering
further clarification.
Photo: Pool photo by Patrick Kovarik
http://www.nytimes.com/slideshow/2008/04/07/world/0407-TORCH_11.html
Protesters confronted police guarding a bus containing the extinguished
torch.
Photo: Lucas Dolega/European Pressphoto Agency
http://www.nytimes.com/slideshow/2008/04/07/world/0407-TORCH_12.html
Police surrounded the bus where the extinguished Olympic torch was
placed to keep it from protesters. In Beijing, a spokeswoman for the
city's Olympic organizing committee said at a hurriedly organized news
conference held before the problems in France that the relay would
continue on its international route regardless of protests. "The torch
represents the Olympic spirit and people welcome the torch," said Wang
Hui, the spokeswoman.
Photo: Jacky Naegelen/Reuters
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