****trait of a Bloody Nosed Host : ¡°Journey of Harmony¡±turned into A
Melee of the Year -- Olympic Torch Goes Out, Briefly, in Paris / The New
York Times
The New York Times
April 8, 2008
Olympic Torch Goes Out, Briefly, in Paris
By KATRIN BENNHOLD and ELISABETH ROSENTHAL
PARIS ¡ª China dubbed its Olympic torch relay the ¡°Journey of Harmony,¡±
a
21-nation promotional tour for the most expensive Games the world has
seen and for a host nation eager to showcase its rising wealth and
diplomatic clout.
But what was supposed to be a majestic procession through the French
capital resulted in waves of chaos on Monday, as human rights groups
used the event to assail China¡¯s record on rights and make the Olympic
Games an increasingly delicate political challenge for the governing
Communist Party.
China has spent eight years and tens of billions of dollars preparing to
host the Summer Games, which Beijing has envisioned as a kind of
coming-of-age party to showcase its rapid growth. But the outbreak of
violent unrest in Tibet and a continuing crackdown there by Chinese
security forces has emboldened China¡¯s critics, a diverse coalition of
rights groups whose demands are often ignored in China and played down
by Western leaders eager to promote Chinese trade and investment.
Passing through Paris under armed guard, the torch was extinguished
several times, and police officers moved it aboard a bus to protect it
as demonstrators swarmed the security detail. Chinese Olympic organizers
abruptly canceled the last leg, as well as a stop at City Hall, where a
banner proclaimed, ¡°Paris Defends Human Rights Everywhere in the World.¡±
About 3,000 police officers ¡ª on foot, horseback, inline skates,
motorcycles and even boats on the Seine ¡ª had been deployed in an
attempt to prevent a repetition of scenes played out in London on
Sunday, when the relay turned into a tumult of scuffles and dozens of
arrests.
The torch ceremonies have focused attention on causes that have
languished on the world¡¯s back burner for decades. At the International
Campaign for Tibet, telephones have rung continually with calls from
news media outlets, politicians and people wanting to sign petitions and
hold events, said Jan Willem den Besten, the Dutch campaign coordinator.
¡°What is most dramatic is to see how broad and deep the sup****t has
become,¡± Mr. den Besten said. ¡°You almost have to feel sorry for the
Chinese because it¡¯s turned completely against the public image they
wanted to present.¡±
In San Francisco, where the torch is to arrive on Wednesday, several
protesters scaled the vertical suspension cables of the Golden Gate
Bridge and unfurled two large banners reading, ¡°One World, One Dream,¡±
and ¡°Free Tibet 08.¡± At least seven people were arrested.
At the same time, the city¡¯s mayor, Gavin Newsom, was huddling with the
police to consider last-minute changes to the torch¡¯s route and new
security measures, said Nathan Ballard, a city spokesman. ¡°If
adjustments to the route for safety reasons are necessary, then
adjustments will be made,¡± said Mr. Ballard, who said the mayor had been
in contact with American and Chinese officials and with protest groups.
Also on Monday, Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton joined a small but
growing number of leading political figures in the United States and
Europe who have called for a boycott of the opening ceremony of the Games.
In Paris, at the Trocad¨¦ro, opposite the Eiffel Tower, human rights
organizations like Amnesty International and press freedom groups like
Re****ters Without Borders protested side by side with representatives of
a banned underground Chinese democracy party, Taiwan nationalists and
proponents of independence for the Uighurs, a Muslim minority in western
China.
¡°We all have the same problem,¡± Can Asgar, a leader of the Uighur
dias****a in Munich, yelled into a microphone at the Trocad¨¦ro. ¡°Freedom
for Uighurs. Freedom for Tibet. We must fight together.¡±
The Eurostar train from London to Paris on Sunday evening carried a
large contingent of advocates moving from one protest to the next,
including Tibetan nuns who had been jailed in China for 12 years and
Tibetan athletes who live in Switzerland and call themselves Team Tibet.
Busloads of protesters arrived from Belgium and the Netherlands.
The range of China¡¯s opponents was so thoroughly covered that it
included a protest by Amnesty International on behalf of a blind Chinese
human rights lawyer who is in prison in Beijing.
Paris became a scene of disarray. At least one protester came within a
yard of the swarm of police officers and Chinese Olympic officials
crowding around the torchbearer. On several occasions, officers tackled
protesters. The police said about 20 people had been arrested.
A man identified by the police as a Green Party activist was grabbed by
security officers as he headed for St¨¦phane Diagana, the president of
France¡¯s athletics league and a former world hurdles champion, who was
carrying the torch from the first floor of the Eiffel Tower.
Again and again, protesters interrupted the procession. On a street
along the Seine, demonstrators forced officers to retreat with the torch
onto a bus to continue along the route, the police said. Around the same
time, the flame went out. The torch went out more than four times,
according to the French Olympic Committee, as the police repeatedly
moved it aboard the bus, including the final stretch between City Hall
and the stadium that houses the French Olympic Committee¡¯s offices.
In Beijing on Monday, a spokeswoman for the city¡¯s Olympic organizing
committee ¡ª speaking before the disruptions in France ¡ª vowed that the
relay would continue on its international route. ¡°The torch represents
the Olympic spirit, and people welcome the torch,¡± said Wang Hui, the
spokeswoman. ¡°The general public is very angry at this sabotage by a few
separatists.¡±
Meanwhile, the chairman of the International Olympic Committee, Jacques
Rogge, used a meeting of national Olympic committee representatives in
Beijing on Monday to criticize the London protests, but also to call for
a rapid and peaceful solution to the confrontations in Tibet. He
rejected the idea of boycotting the Games.
¡°The torch relay has been targeted,¡± Mr. Rogge said in a speech to the
Association of National Olympic Committees, according to Reuters. ¡°The
I.O.C. has expressed serious concerns and calls for rapid, peaceful
resolution in Tibet.¡±
¡°Violence for whatever reason is not compatible with the values of the
torch relay and the Olympic Games,¡± he said. ¡°Some people have played
with the idea of boycotts. As I speak today, there is no momentum for a
general boycott.¡±
But after the meeting, the leader of the Norwegian Olympic Committee,
Tove Paule, said in an interview that the torch relay should be
reconsidered.
¡°The International Olympic Committee may have a bigger problem when the
torch relay continues, if we get more of these demonstrations,¡± Ms.
Paule was quoted as saying by NRK, the Norwegian public broadcaster,
Reuters re****ted.
When the flame moves to San Francisco on Wednesday, it will be the sixth
stop on its monthlong international tour.
Amnesty International and several other rights groups have pledged to
rally along the route of the torch, which is scheduled to be run six
miles along the city¡¯s scenic waterfront. A heavy law enforcement
presence is expected, with local police officers supplemented with
officers from other California cities and state and federal agencies.
The Federal Aviation Administration said it would also enact a
low-altitude, no-flight zone over the route.
Ngodup Tsering, the president of Tibetan Association of Northern
California, said he expected several thousand protesters to converge on
San Francisco, which he hoped would not escalate into the type of scrum
seen in Paris on Monday.
¡°We are trying to educate our people, to remind them that they are here
to be nonviolent,¡± said Mr. Tsering, whose group is based in Berkeley,
Calif. ¡°We have to be prepared, and very calm and nonviolent.¡±
John F. Burns contributed re****ting from London, Jim Yardley from
Beijing and Jesse McKinley from San Francisco.
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