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Security men tackled Green Party activist Sylvain Garel (third from left at rear) as he tried to approach torch carrier Stephane Diagana on Monday at the Eiffel Tower.
<table> </table> PARIS | From start to finish, there was no respite from the protests. Only moments after the first Olympic torchbearer began his descent down the Eiffel Tower, a protester shouted, “Freedom for the Chinese!” and lunged toward the flame.</p><p>The torch hadn’t even reached solid ground yet — it was on the tower’s first floor — and havoc had broken out at Monday’s torch rally in Paris.</p><p>Later, protesters booed trucks emblazoned with the names of Olympic corporate sponsors. They chained themselves to railings. They hurled water at the flame and hung banners depicting the Olympic rings as handcuffs from atop the Eiffel Tower and Notre Dame cathedral.</p><p>Eventually, Chinese organizers simply gave up: They canceled the final third of what they had envisioned as a triumphant jog past world famous landmarks like the Louvre, the Seine River bridges and the Place de la Concorde. They put the torch on board a bus and sent it to its final destination, a sports stadium, where more protesters waited.</p><p>Citywide, the thousands of demonstrators slowed the relay to a stop-start crawl, with impassioned displays of anger over China’s holding of the Olympic Games, its grip on Tibet and human-rights failings, defying 3,000 officers — some deployed in jogging gear and inline skates.</p><p>The Interior Ministry said police made 28 arrests. Officers sprayed tear gas to break up a sit-in by about 300 pro-Tibet demonstrators who blocked the route.</p><p>Police tackled protesters who ran at the torch. At least two activists got almost within arm’s length before they were grabbed by police. Near the Louvre, police grabbed a protester who approached the flame with a fire extinguisher.</p><p>Five times, Chinese officials in dark glasses and tracksuits who guard the symbolic torch extinguished it and retreated to the safety of a bus — the last time for good until the vehicle had driven them to the stadium at the end of the route. There, a torchbearer ran the last 15 feet on foot.</p><p>A spokesman for the French Olympic Committee, Denis Masseglia, estimated one-third of the 80 people, many of them athletes, who were to carry the torch did not get to do so.</p><p>Outside Parliament, as the torch passed, 35 lawmakers protested, shouting, “Freedom for Tibet.”</p><p>“The flame shouldn’t have come to Paris,” said protester Carmen de Santiago, who had “free” painted on one cheek and “Tibet” on the other.</p><p>Pro-China advocates carrying national flags held counter-demonstrations.</p><p>France’s former sports minister, Jean-Francois Lamour, stressed that though the torch was snuffed out at times, the Olympic flame itself burned in a lantern where it is kept overnight and on airplane flights. A Chinese official said that flame was used to re-light the torch each time it was brought aboard the bus.</p><p><hr class="infobox-hr-separator" /> <div class="infobox"> <strong><span class="infobox-head">Golden Gate banners </span></strong><br /> SAN FRANCISCO | Three people protesting impending arrival of the Olympic torch climbed the Golden Gate Bridge on Monday and tied the Tibetan flag and two banners to its cables.</p><p> The banners read, “One World One Dream. Free Tibet,” and, “Free Tibet 08.”</p><p> The protesters wore helmets and harnesses as they made their way up the cables running next to the south tower of the famed span. The climb had the group suspended about 150 feet above traffic.</p><p> Reached by cell phone as he dangled from the bridge, demonstrator Laurel Sutherlin said he was worried that the torch’s planned route through Tibet would lead to more arrests and Chinese officials would use force to stifle dissent.</p><p> “The leaders of China have said they’ll maintain order at all costs, and we know what that means — bloodshed and violent oppression,” he said. “If the IOC allows the torch to proceed into Tibet they’ll have blood on their hands.”</p><p> The protesters later climbed down.</p><p> In all, seven were charged with conspiracy and causing a public nuisance.</p><p>The torch relay takes place Wednesday in San Francisco, its only North American stop.</p><p></div>
The torch hadn’t even reached solid ground yet — it was on the tower’s first floor — and havoc had broken out at Monday’s torch rally in Paris.
Later, protesters booed trucks emblazoned with the names of Olympic corporate sponsors. They chained themselves to railings. They hurled water at the flame and hung banners depicting the Olympic rings as handcuffs from atop the Eiffel Tower and Notre Dame cathedral.
Eventually, Chinese organizers simply gave up: They canceled the final third of what they had envisioned as a triumphant jog past world famous landmarks like the Louvre, the Seine River bridges and the Place de la Concorde. They put the torch on board a bus and sent it to its final destination, a sports stadium, where more protesters waited.
Citywide, the thousands of demonstrators slowed the relay to a stop-start crawl, with impassioned displays of anger over China’s holding of the Olympic Games, its grip on Tibet and human-rights failings, defying 3,000 officers — some deployed in jogging gear and inline skates.
The Interior Ministry said police made 28 arrests. Officers sprayed tear gas to break up a sit-in by about 300 pro-Tibet demonstrators who blocked the route.
Police tackled protesters who ran at the torch. At least two activists got almost within arm’s length before they were grabbed by police. Near the Louvre, police grabbed a protester who approached the flame with a fire extinguisher.
Five times, Chinese officials in dark glasses and tracksuits who guard the symbolic torch extinguished it and retreated to the safety of a bus — the last time for good until the vehicle had driven them to the stadium at the end of the route. There, a torchbearer ran the last 15 feet on foot.
A spokesman for the French Olympic Committee, Denis Masseglia, estimated one-third of the 80 people, many of them athletes, who were to carry the torch did not get to do so.
Outside Parliament, as the torch passed, 35 lawmakers protested, shouting, “Freedom for Tibet.”
“The flame shouldn’t have come to Paris,” said protester Carmen de Santiago, who had “free” painted on one cheek and “Tibet” on the other.
Pro-China advocates carrying national flags held counter-demonstrations.
France’s former sports minister, Jean-Francois Lamour, stressed that though the torch was snuffed out at times, the Olympic flame itself burned in a lantern where it is kept overnight and on airplane flights. A Chinese official said that flame was used to re-light the torch each time it was brought aboard the bus.
The banners read, “One World One Dream. Free Tibet,” and, “Free Tibet 08.”
The protesters wore helmets and harnesses as they made their way up the cables running next to the south tower of the famed span. The climb had the group suspended about 150 feet above traffic.
Reached by cell phone as he dangled from the bridge, demonstrator Laurel Sutherlin said he was worried that the torch’s planned route through Tibet would lead to more arrests and Chinese officials would use force to stifle dissent.
“The leaders of China have said they’ll maintain order at all costs, and we know what that means — bloodshed and violent oppression,” he said. “If the IOC allows the torch to proceed into Tibet they’ll have blood on their hands.”
The protesters later climbed down.
In all, seven were charged with conspiracy and causing a public nuisance.
The torch relay takes place Wednesday in San Francisco, its only North American stop.
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