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Protesters extinguish torch
07/04/2008 14:44 - (SA)
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| A protester is detained by a police officer during the Olympic Torch relay in Paris. (Francois Mori, AP) |
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Paris - The Beijing Olympic flame had to be confined to the safety of a bus on Monday after being extinguished twice as hundreds of pro-Tibet activists disrupted its progress through Paris, despite a heavy police escort.
French police scuffled with campaigners protesting China's crackdown in Tibet and at least four people were arrested as they attempted to block the torch's planned relay route through the city.
The flame began its journey from the Eiffel Tower, with former French athlete Stephane Diagana leading off the proposed relay of 80 runners chosen to carry it through the Paris streets.
Extinguished
The torch was protected by a phalanx of motorcycle police, jogging firemen, police on roller blades and dozens of riot police vehicles.
The relay had got just 200 metres from its starting point at the Eiffel Tower when it was put on the bus. It was then taken off the vehicle for a brief time before being carried back on board after being extinguished twice.
Pro-Tibet activists, gathered on Human Rights Square across the River Seine, whistled and jeered as they watched it begin its 28km route to a stadium in the south of the city.
Officers pushed back several protestors who were trying to reach the Eiffel Tower from Human Rights Square.
Activists had promised a day of "spectacular" protests despite the high-level security surrounding the torch, whose passage on Sunday across London was disrupted several times by protestors.
Paris police had vowed to secure a perimeter of some 200 metres around the flame.
'Flame of discord'
"The flame of discord" was how two national French newspapers described it in their front-page headlines, while the front of the left-leaning Liberation daily was covered with a picture of the Olympic rings turned into handcuffs.
A Chinese embassy advisor in Paris said the torch's relay would be a "great festival" for the French people and that any protests would come from a "tiny minority".
The Olympic flame's Paris relay came as International Olympic Committee president Jacques Rogge called on China, during a meeting of National Olympic Committee heads in Beijing, to peacefully end unrest in Tibet.
- AFP
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