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__________________Hundreds of pro-Tibetan protesters have disrupted the Paris relay of the Beijing Olympic torch overnight (Australian time), clashing with police and twice forcing torchbearers to extinguish the flame and take refuge on a bus.
French athlete Stephane Diagana had carried the torch just 200 metres from the start of the relay at the Eiffel Tower when scuffles broke out between police and campaigners protesting China's crackdown in Tibet.
The flame was taken on and off a bus, extinguished and then relit before carrying on its planned 28-kilometre route protected by a phalanx of motorcycle police, jogging firemen, and police on rollerblades.
But it had not got much further along the banks of the River Seine when another group of protesters tried to grab and extinguish the flame - prevented only by a rapid police intervention.
At least five people, including a local politician wielding a fire extinguisher, were arrested along the route.
Some activists managed to evade security measures to climb up inside the Eiffel Tower and unfurl a flag with the five Olympic rings turned into handcuffs. They then chained themselves to the monument, 75 metres off the ground.
Across the River Seine on Human Rights Square, hundreds of pro-Tibetans booed and jeered as the torch set off on its relay.
They carried banners with messages such as "Tiananmen 1989 - Lhasa 2008" and "For a bloody world welcome to the Olympics made in China."
The Paris protest came a day after rowdy protests on the torch's London leg, where its progress through the city was disrupted several times by protesters and where it also had to be briefly put on a bus for security.
International Olympic Committee president Jacques Rogge called on China to peacefully end unrest in Tibet, piling further pressure on the nation's communist rulers ahead of the Beijing Games in August.
"Violence for whatever reason is not compatible with the values of the torch relay or the Olympic Games," he said at a meeting of National Olympic Committee heads in Beijing.
Beijing has faced international criticism over its crackdown on protests in Tibet that began on March 10 and later spread to other areas of China with Tibetan populations.
Exiled Tibetan leaders say more than 150 people have been killed in the unrest, triggered by what Tibetans say has been nearly 60 years of repression under Chinese rule.
China insists its security forces have killed no one while trying to quell the protests. However it says Tibetan "rioters" have killed 20 people.
- AFP
It was billed by the Chinese authorities as “the harmonious journey,” but the
Three times in the course of its 28-kilometer route through the City of
A planned ceremony at the city’s grand City Hall, to mark the torch’s passage through Paris was cancelled, according to the office of the Paris mayor.
"The Chinese officials decided they would not stop here because they were upset by Parisian citizens expressing their support for human rights. It is their responsibility," Paris Mayor Bertrand Delanoë told reporters.
Reporting from City Hall, FRANCE 24's Lanah Kammourieh said activists had hung a large Tibetan flag over the building and clashes had broken out between pro and anti-Chinese protesters.
The relay was finally cut short, with the torch reaching the Charlety stadium, on the southern edge of Paris, by bus.
'Demonstrations every few meters'
Scuffles broke out shortly after the relay set off from the
“Pro-Tibet demonstrators have been coming out and shouting ‘Free Tibet,’” he added. “The procession is being halted regularly, with demonstrators lying down in the street and police coming to remove them.”
Germain also reported seeing clashes between the police and protesters. Police arrested four people, including two pro-Tibet protesters, for trying to hinder the progress of the torch, according to AFP.
Moments after the relay kicked off at the Eiffel Tower, Sylvain Garel, a Paris city councillor from the Green Party, tried to grab the torch from former world 400-meters hurdles champion Stephane Diagana, shouting, “Free Tibet, Chinese troops out of Tibet.” He was pulled aside before he could reach the torch.
The French authorities were taking extensive measures to protect the Olympic torch from protesters as it makes its way through Paris on Monday on the last leg of its European tour.
Thousands of security personnel had been mobilized – in helicopters, on horseback, roller blades and on foot – in an effort to avoid the kind of scenes seen in London on Sunday, when protesters repeatedly tried to extinguish the torch.
The torch was to be carried by 80 runners in relay on a 28 kilometer route through the French capital from the Eiffel Tower to the Charlety stadium in southern Paris. As it is carried along the banks of the Seine, the flame will be flanked by 100 police on roller blades and 100 jogging firemen, as well as police motorcyclists and 16 security vehicles.
“All those who wish to express themselves can express themselves,” French Sports Junior Minister Bernard Laporte told reporters. “But I don't want there to be any incidents surrounding the torch, because that would be lack of respect for the values it represents”.
An obstacle race
The torch arrived in the French capital late Sunday, after a chaotic trip through London, where it came close to being extinguished by two pro-Tibet activists.
"Free Tibet, Free Tibet" slogans resonated as protestors rallied through the streets with banners and their faces painted in the colours of the Tibetan flag.
British police arrested at least 35 people, including a demonstrator who tried to seize the flame from one of the torchbearers.
Chinese media slammed protests organized by "Tibetan separatists" in London, after it initially censored some reports on the protests.
“Chinese media are trying to play down the significance of the protests,” reports FRANCE 24’s Henry Morton from Beijing. “Domestically it’s still about giving the Olympics a positive spin and playing down any sort of international criticism despite growing calls for a boycott of, at the very least, the opening ceremony of the Olympics.”
Call for peace
The Olympics organizing committee in Beijing strongly condemned the protests. “Members of the organizing committee have strongly condemned the attempt to extinguish the flame and disrupting the relay in London, calling it acts of sabotage,” reports Morton.
International Olympic Committee president Jacques Rogge voiced concern Monday, and called for a rapid, peaceful resolution of the Tibet crisis. "The torch relay has been targeted," the IOC chief said in a speech in Beijing, admitting the torch relay had been a focus of protests and that the Tibet crisis was casting a shadow over the lead-up to the Games in August.
“Events in Tibet have triggered a wave of protests among governments, media, and non- government organizations,” Rogge added.
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