Torch Extinguished In Paris
News April 7th, 2008
Sad times for the torch runners! The Olympic torch has been extinguished twice by officials on it’s path through Paris.
Jim Bittermann, CNN’s senior European correspondent based in Paris, said that while it was hard to gauge numbers, it looked like thousands of demonstrators had taken to the streets — although some were Chinese backing the Olympics.
“There was a small punch-up between some supporters of Tibet and some supporters of the Olympics,” he added.
Paris police have conceived a security plan to keep the torch in a safe “bubble,” during its 17-mile (28 km) journey, with a multi-layered protective force to surround the torch as it moves along the route.
French torchbearers will be encircled by several hundred officers, some in riot police vehicles and on motorcycles, others on rollerblades and on foot. Chinese torch escorts will immediately surround the torchbearer, with Paris police on rollerblades moving around them. French firefighters in jogging shoes will encircle the officers on rollerblades while motorcycle police will form the outer layer of security.
The relay route in Paris is also significantly shorter than that in London Sunday.
French Olympic champion Marie-Josee Perec, Portugal forward Pedro Miguel Pauleta and badminton player Pi Hongyan are among the featured torch bearers, with some torch bearers expected to wear protest buttons.
The head of Reporters Without Borders, a French-based group that disrupted last month’s torch lighting ceremony in Olympia, Greece, had earlier told CNN his group has planned “something spectacular” to protest the relay.
At least six groups have permits to protest along the route, but only for demonstrations well away from the flame’s path. The Paris mayor has ordered a banner over City Hall that reads “Paris City of Human Rights.”
Via CNN
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Nicolas Sarkozy should not be invited to the Olympic Opeining ceremony, as he doesn’t respect the Olympic torch, and use it politically.
what a shame!most of the western protesters are cheated by some Tibetan who will not get the visa if they do not tell lies and spport free tibet. what a shame
why only N.S. ? all presidents must boycott the opening ceremony ! China has no respect of Olympic values (human rights, freedoms, …)
how do you know about china human rights?
some organizaions in western countries?
have you been in china?
most of you are cheated.
Actually, I have been in to China. I live in Beijing, and I have also lived in Yantai, Shandong province.
where do you live now?when did you come to china?
Human Rights don’t come in one day. Human rights is realized in different and difficult ways. Always and everywhere. It is unfair to request China, (which is the only country with 3000+ years of CONTINUOUS history of feudalism, and which bears a complex emotion towards western countries, who had raped and robbed it for 150 years, and who also sparkled it to mordernize) to obtain western-standardized human rights once and for all. Olympic Games held in China will be great opportunity for the communication and understanding between China and the rest of world, and could be a big push to China towards a country of more freedom and democracy. However, the current farce about tibet kicks in and messes everything up. And the Olympic games is becoming an event to deepen mis-understanding around the world What a lose to human progress. I really wish that the western main stream media could report how 1.3 billion Chinese people are thinking about the recent issues about Tibet and Torch-relay.
Human simply tends to show sympathy to a weak side in a confrontation. However, westerner never understand the true emotions between Tibetan Chinese and Han Chinese, who have been together for at least 1000 years, having countless wars and marriages between them. In China, people never say “he is a Tibetan and she is a Chinese”, because it is like to say “This is an apple, and that is a fruit”. Instead, it is natual for them to say that “he is Tibetan and she is Han”. The reason: Tibetan and Han are all Chinese, together with other 50+ ethnic groups. A simplistic sympathy to the protesters is just too naive. The english-speaking Tibetan protesters are mostly the second generation of the followers of DaLai Lama. They have been brought up in western environment. Most native Tibeten Chinese will not agree with those protesters.
Chinese people are really nice people wishing a harmonious world. This idea was scripted 2000 thousand years ago. This dream echos the spirit of Olympic. Even the Chinese Communist blend this idea in their slogans.