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Protests Stop Olympic Torch Relay in Paris
by
findingDulcinea Staff
At the request of Chinese officials and following protests along the route, the Paris leg of the Olympic torch relay came to an end Monday.
30-Second Summary
Earlier in the day, security officials were forced to put out the Olympic torch because of “technical concerns.” The torch was soon relit. But more problems followed.
The first segment of the Paris relay was disrupted when Sylvain Garel, a member of France’s Green Party, tried to seize the torch from former world champion 400-meter hurdler Stéphane Diagana. The pro-Tibet demonstrations forced officials to put the torch on a bus just after it passed the Eiffel Tower. A runner took up the torch again later, but only for a short time.
Protesters lay down on the road in front of the Olympic torch entourage, reported France 24.
The problems in Paris mirrored those experienced by Olympic organizers and runners on Sunday’s London leg, where the torch also traveled part of the route on a bus. One protester tried to seize the torch from television personality Konnie Huq as she ran through the British capital’s West End.
“I don't want there to be any incidents surrounding the torch, because that would be lack of respect for the values it represents,” said Bernard Laporte, France’s junior minister of sport.
Accusations that there is a conflict between human rights and the interests of companies looking to invest in China remain a sensitive topic. Drew Thompson, China studies director for the Nixon Institute, says that the country’s “different norms present a persistent challenge to all companies investing in China, during the Olympics and after.”
See Associated Press coverage
The first segment of the Paris relay was disrupted when Sylvain Garel, a member of France’s Green Party, tried to seize the torch from former world champion 400-meter hurdler Stéphane Diagana. The pro-Tibet demonstrations forced officials to put the torch on a bus just after it passed the Eiffel Tower. A runner took up the torch again later, but only for a short time.
Protesters lay down on the road in front of the Olympic torch entourage, reported France 24.
The problems in Paris mirrored those experienced by Olympic organizers and runners on Sunday’s London leg, where the torch also traveled part of the route on a bus. One protester tried to seize the torch from television personality Konnie Huq as she ran through the British capital’s West End.
“I don't want there to be any incidents surrounding the torch, because that would be lack of respect for the values it represents,” said Bernard Laporte, France’s junior minister of sport.
Accusations that there is a conflict between human rights and the interests of companies looking to invest in China remain a sensitive topic. Drew Thompson, China studies director for the Nixon Institute, says that the country’s “different norms present a persistent challenge to all companies investing in China, during the Olympics and after.”
See Associated Press coverage
Headline Links: Olympic torch run disrupted, cancelled
French network BFM reported that, starting in front of the National Parliament, the torch would travel the remainder of the Paris route on a bus.
Source: Reuters
Paris Mayor Bernard Delanoe said that the relay would not be passing in front of City Hall, because “the Chinese officials decided they would not stop here because they were put out by Parisian citizens expressing their support for human rights. It is their responsibility.”
Source: Reuters
Video: Paris Olympic torch run full of hurdles
Protesters hung a four-meter-long black flag with handcuffs replacing the Olympic rings from the lower platform of the Eiffel Tower. Henry Morton reports from Beijing that, in China, “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.”
Source: France 24
British network Sky features a clip of Stéphane Diagana running down the steps of the Eiffel Tower, the first stop on the torch’s Paris tour. France’s riot police unit, the CRS, was at the ready for protests expected along the Seine River. As Sky News put it, the force “is not known for taking prisoners.”
Source: YouTube
Background: Protests disrupt London Olympic torch run
Coverage of the London leg of the torch relay appeared on Chinese state television with the protests omitted. Qu Yingpu, Beijing’s spokesperson for the Olympic torch relay, said, “This is not the right time, the right platform, for any people to voice their political views. So we are very grateful and very thankful to the people in London, the police and the organizers, for their efforts trying to keep order.”
Source: The BBC
Tessa Jowell, the U.K. Olympics Minister, said, “The welcome of the Olympic torch to London is not the same as condoning the human rights regime in China or condoning the treatment of Tibet.” Demonstrators Martin Wyness and Ashley Darby were held in police custody after they attempted to put out the Olympic torch with a fire extinguisher. In a statement they said that to Beijing the Olympics were “nothing more than an elaborate propaganda tool to cover its appalling human rights record.”
Source: Reuters
Historical Context: ‘If You Want to Know a Secret …’
Newsweek was given access to the rehearsal for the opening of the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City and discovered how much work goes into keeping the opening ceremonies a secret, as well as pulling off such a complicated show. “Love them or hate them, the opening ceremonies are a carefully choreographed piece of political theater that sets the mood for the Games and serves as a global infomercial for the host country,” said the story, which quotes several of the show’s organizers about its planning, including recent presidential hopeful Mitt Romney.
Source: Newsweek
Opinion & Analysis: ‘Will China’s Olympics be a Success?’
Drew Thompson, the Nixon Institute’s China studies director, gives his take on the possible impact of the Beijing Olympics in an online Q&A hosted by the Financial Times. He argues that Western sponsors may need to be more prudent when deciding how to support these games in terms of a public relations perspective. “Those different norms present a persistent challenge to all companies investing in China, during the Olympics and after. However, most companies firmly believe that their presence in China … provides them the opportunity to demonstrate international standards for behavior to their employees and customers,” Thompson writes.
Source: Financial Times (registration may be required)
Reference: The 2008 Olympic torch itinerary
The Web site of the 2008 torch relay has an interactive map with arrows showing the order of stops on the world tour.
Source: The official Web site of the Olympic torch relay
Related Topics: Previous 2008 torch stops
On April 2, the Olympic torch made its first post-China stop in Almaty, Kazakhstan, the country’s economic hub and former capital. The Central Asian country is counting on the relay as a source of positive publicity, but still can’t shed the “Borat” association.
Source: findingDulcinea
Relay organizers said prior to the torch’s leg in Tibet that the state of unrest there will not impede its journey from Greece to Beijing. But protests cast uncertainty over the 85,000-mile relay.
Source: findingDulcinea
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