2008-4-07 3:24pm
Oui! We knew SOMETHING would happen.
From iht:
“What was supposed to be a majestic procession for the Olympic torch through the French capital was disrupted Monday as thousands of people from around Europe, many with Tibetan flags, massed to protest the passage of the flame, forcing police officers to bring the torch onto a bus to try to protect it and causing the torch to be extinguished at least once.
A police spokeswoman, speaking on condition of anonymity in accordance with policy, said the torch went out “for technical reasons” unrelated to the protests, without offering further clarification. CNN reported that the torch was extinguished at least twice amid the melee, and The Associated Press said officials were forced to extinguish the flame three times amid security concerns.
Despite tremendous security, at least two activists got within almost an arm’s length of the flame before they were grabbed by police officers, The AP reported. Officers tackled numerous protesters to the ground and carried some away.
It was yet another unscripted moment in the passage of the Olympic flame, and the second time in two days that the torch relay had been disrupted in a European capital.
Some 3,000 police officers in Paris — on foot, horseback, roller blades, motorbikes and even boats in the river Seine — tried to prevent a repeat of the scenes in London on Sunday, when the torch’s progression through the streets turned into a tumult of scuffles. One man broke through a tight security cordon in the London protests and made a failed grab for the torch, and 35 people were arrested…”
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