Flames of Protest

Organizers Cut Short Olympic Torch Relay in Paris

Security officials were forced to cut short the Olympic torch relay in Paris after heavy anti-Chinese protests along the route. Police extinguished the torch three times in a bid to evade protesters.

Pro-Tibet demonstrators stage a protest during the Olympic torch relay in Paris.

DPA

Pro-Tibet demonstrators stage a protest during the Olympic torch relay in Paris.

Security officials were forced to cut short the Olympic torch relay in Paris Monday after the event was hampered by heavy protests.

Police had to extinguish the Olympic torch three times in attempts to evade anti-Chinese protesters in the French capital. Eventually the Chinese authorities in charge of organizing the relay decided to take the torch to the end of the route by bus rather than by runners, cutting short the planned five-hour event.

Protesters succeeded in disrupting the event despite heavy security provided by around 3,000 French police. The torch had arrived overnight in Paris from London, where a relay had taken place Sunday.

"The Chinese have made sure that for a few hours, Paris will look like Tiananmen Square," the head of Reporters without Borders, Robert Menard, told the BBC earlier on Monday, in a reference to the Beijing square which was the scene of a bloody crackdown on pro-democracy protestors in 1989. The Paris-based non-governmental organization Reporters without Borders, which campaigns for press freedom, has been one of the most vocal groups protesting against the Beijing Olympics.

Earlier on Monday, China had reacted angrily to protests against the Olympic torch relay in London. "A few Tibetan separatists attempted to sabotage the torch relay in London," Sun Weide, a spokesman for the Beijing Olympic organizing committee, told the Associated Press. "We strongly denounce their disgusting behavior. … Their attempt is doomed to failure."

Hundreds of people protested along the route of the Olympic torch relay in London Sunday in protest against China's policies in Tibet and Darfur. Despite tight security -- the torchbearers were protected by an inner circle of Chinese security agents and an outer ring of British agents -- a number of protesters tried to grab the torch or block its path. One demonstrator even tried to put out the flame with what looked like a fire extinguisher.

Meanwhile the debate over a possible Olympic boycott continues. French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner said on Monday that President Nicolas Sarkozy was "keeping all options" open regarding a possible boycott of the opening ceremony of the Olympics, "based on how the situation develops."

However, the German interior minister, Wolfgang Schäuble, said in an interview Monday that a boycott of the Olympics would be "completely wrong." He said that the Olympics would help China to "open up" but that could only happen if the Games took place. He also said that the Olympics must not be "abused" for the purposes of state propaganda. "The Germans did that perfectly -- in a negative sense -- in 1936," he said, referring to the 1936 Berlin Olympics, which Adolf Hitler exploited for propaganda purposes.

Jacques Rogge, the president of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), said Monday in a speech in Beijing that he was very concerned about "the international situation and what's happened in Tibet." He said violence "for whatever reason" was "not compatible" with the Olympic values and said the IOC "calls for rapid, peaceful resolution in Tibet." He also said there was currently "no momentum for a general boycott."

China has faced a wave of protests since the crackdown on protesters in the Tibetan capital of Lhasa and in other Tibetan areas in mid-March. The Chinese government has said 22 people died in the violence but Tibetan activists claim the number of dead is several times higher.

China had hoped that the 85,000-mile (140,000-kilometer) Olympic torch relay would be a suitably impressive public relations exercise ahead of the Beijing Summer Olympics. But instead the torch relay has turned into a highly visible focus for pro-Tibet protests.

There have been protests along the route of the Olympic torch relay since it began its journey in Greece last month. After Paris the flame travels to San Francisco, where further protests are expected.

dgs/ap/reuters