Olympic Torch Put Out 3 Times Amid Paris Protests

Jerome Pugmire And Elaine Ganley in Paris
Associated Press

April 7, 2008

Security officials extinguished the Olympic torch three times Monday as protests against China's human rights record turned a relay through Paris into a chaotic series of stops and starts.

Despite massive security, at least two activists got within almost an arm's length of the flame before they were grabbed by police.

At the start of the relay, a man identified as a Green Party activist was grabbed by security officers as he headed for 1997 400-meter world champion Stephane Diagana, who was carrying the torch from the first floor of the Eiffel Tower.

The man was tackled before he got close to Diagana.

The procession continued but, soon after, a crowd of activists waving Tibetan flags confronted the torchbearer on a road along the Seine River. The demonstrators did not appear to get close to the torch, but its flame was put out by security officers and brought on board a bus.

Less than an hour later, the flame was being carried out of a Paris traffic tunnel by an athlete in a wheelchair when the procession was halted by activists who booed and chanted "Tibet." Once again, the torch was temporarily extinguished and put on a bus despite protesters' apparent failure to get close.

The torch was put out for the third time when police interrupted the procession as a precaution because they spotted a crowd of demonstrators on a nearby bridge.

(See a photo of Tibetans protesting in India.)

"Flame Is Still There"

Police said they did not immediately have a count of the number of arrests. Mireille Ferri, a Green Party official, said she was held by police for two hours because she approached the Eiffel Tower area with a fire extinguisher.

In various locations throughout the city, activists angry about China's human rights record and repression Tibet carried Tibetan flags and waved signs reading "the flame of shame."

Riot police squirted tear gas to break up a sit-in protest by about 300 pro-Tibet demonstrators who blocked the torch route.

France's former sports minister, Jean-Francois Lamour, said that though the torch had been put out, the Olympic flame itself still burned in the lantern where it is kept overnight and on airplane flights.

"The torch has been extinguished but the flame is still there," he told France Info radio.

Beijing Boycott?

Police had hoped to prevent the chaos that marred the relay in London a day earlier. There, police had repeatedly scuffled with activists angry about China's human rights record leading up to the Beijing Olympics. One protester tried to grab the torch; another tried to snuff out the flame with what appeared to be a fire extinguisher.

In Paris, police had drawn up an elaborate plan to try to keep the torch in a safe "bubble." Torchbearers were encircled by several hundred officers, some in riot police vehicles and on motorcycles, others on skates or on foot.

About 80 athletes had been slated to carry the torch over the 17.4-mile (28 kilometer) route that started at the Eiffel Tower, headed down the Champs-Elysees avenue toward City Hall, then crossed over the Seine before ending at the Charlety track and field stadium.

Across town, City Hall draped its building with a banner reading, "Paris defends human rights around the world."

One torch bearer, two-time French judo gold medalist David Douillet, told RTL radio that he regretted the choice of China, "because it isn't up to snuff on freedom of expression, on total liberty, and of course, on Olympic values."

French President Nicolas Sarkozy has left open the possibility of boycotting the Olympic opening ceremony in Beijing depending on how the situation evolves in Tibet. Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner said Monday that was still the case.

History of Protests

Activists have been protesting along the torch route since the flame embarked on its 85,000-mile (136,794-kilometer) journey from Ancient Olympia in Greece to Beijing.

Beijing organizers criticized London's protesters, saying their actions were a "disgusting" form of sabotage by Tibetan separatists.

"The act of defiance from this small group of people is not popular," said Sun Weide, a spokesman for the Beijing Olympic organizing committee. "It will definitely be criticized by people who love peace and adore the Olympic spirit. Their attempt is doomed to failure."

The torch relay also is expected to face demonstrations in San Francisco, New Delhi, and possibly elsewhere on its 21-stop, six-continent tour before arriving in Beijing May 4.

Associated Press writer Angela Doland contributed to this report.

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