Peaceful Olympic torch run in Argentina

I talked about the torch events with my friend today.

She thought those guys who interrupting were a little bit radical. For me, I think it’s just a way to demonstrate  the  Tibet issue.

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BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) – Runners surrounded by rows of security carried the Olympic flame past thousands of jubilant Argentines on Friday in the most trouble-free torch relay in nearly a week.

People showered the parade route with confetti as banks, government offices and businesses took an impromptu half-day holiday for the only Latin American stop on the flame’s five-continent journey from Ancient Olympia to the Beijing Games. They are scheduled for August 8 through 24.

Small groups of fenced-off demonstrators protesting China’s human rights record exchanged jeers with hundreds of pro-China demonstrators, but there were no major disruptions. Three water balloons thrown at a torchbearer as he passed the presidential palace were easily batted away by guards.

The biggest threat seemed to be blustery winds that caused the propane-powered flame to flicker repeatedly.

“This is beautiful, a marvelous spectacle,” said Marcelo Tejera, 26.

Mayor Mauricio Macri took the torch from Chinese organizers and opened the relay by passing it to three-time Olympic windsurfing medalist Carlos Espinola, who jogged into Buenos Aires streets flanked by Chinese bodyguards. Heavyset police from Argentina’s navy huffed to keep up.

Another torchbearer climbed into a shell and rowers sped the flame down a muddy River Plate canal, their long oars flashing beneath gathering storm clouds. Back on land, runners jogged past the pink presidential palace and the iconic Obelisk.

Tennis Hall of Famer Gabriela Sabatini capped the relay by running down a long carpet into the hall of an equestrian club, where she ignited a flame in a giant metal bowl, to warm applause.

“I’m supercharged with emotion,” she said, her voice breaking. “It’s so impressive to see how people have experienced this.”

Heavy security accompanied the torch. About 1,300 federal police, 1,500 naval police and 3,000 traffic police and volunteers guarded the 8½-mile route, and at least four security layers swaddled the torchbearers.

A tight group of Chinese guards wearing Argentina’s blue and white surrounded the runners, with riot police driving alongside. Farther out, a line of burly men in blue-and-black track suits linked hands in a moving cordon, and plainclothes federal police patrolled beyond that. Watch as China copes with a public relations nightmare »

Liu Qi, head of the Beijing Olympics Organizing Committee, told senior International Olympics Committee officials in Beijing on Friday that additional steps had been taken to protect the flame, and IOC spokeswoman Giselle Davies said “we’re very confident and comfortable with that.”

About 500 China supporters in red windbreakers handed out by organizers waved banners and denounced the political protests that disrupted the flame’s last stops in London, Paris and San Francisco.

“We are here to celebrate the Olympics,” said Shao Long Chen, a 19-year-old Chinese immigrant. “It’s a great source of pride for us that the Olympics are being held in Beijing and that the torch is passing through Buenos Aires.”

As for the protesters nearby, he said: “They’re using sports to deliver a political message, and that’s not right.”

Protesters say China doesn’t deserve to host the Olympics because of its human rights record, its harsh rule in Tibet and its friendly ties with Sudan. Pro-Tibet demonstrators tossed lotus flowers onto the route in what they said was a nonviolent protest of the Olympic host.

About 25 Falun Gong supporters lit a “human rights torch” and marched along the route to protest China’s ban on the spiritual movement. Some traded insults with China supporters, but no violence was reported.

The flame heads next to Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, the flame’s only stop in Africa.

Olympic torch

Sports or politics?

I wonder if there is torch in Taiwan, what will we do?

Here is the route.

http://edition.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/europe/04/07/oly.torchrelay/index.html#cnnSTCOther1

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(CNN) — The Olympic torch relay was disrupted Monday by protesters in Paris demonstrating against the Chinese government, causing authorities to extinguish the flame three times and put the torch on a bus, according to The Associated Press.

The torch was being carried by a wheelchair athlete when it was halted and extinguished for a second time due to demonstrators shouting, according to AP.

The procession was interrupted for a third time when police spotted a crowd of demonstrators waiting for the torch on a bridge as they approached.

Backup flames, also lit from the birthplace of the ancient games in Olympia, Greece, are with the relay at all times to relight the torch.

Earlier protesters close to the River Seine forced authorities to put the torch out and take to a bus so they could continue the relay.

Agencies report that the relay has now resumed but that there have confrontations between the authorities and demonstrators. Police have taken numerous protesters away, AP said, also using tear gas to remove demonstrators who lay in the road and tried to block the relay route.

The incidents came one day after human-rights activist demonstrators made the torch’s journey through London more like running the gauntlet than a journey of celebration, as UK police made more than two dozen arrests.

The Paris leg of the torch relay departed the Eiffel Tower, carried by 400-meter athlete Stephane Diagana, at around 1030 GMT (0630 ET). It was due to be carried through the boulevards of the French capital, passing landmarks including l’Arc d’Triomphe, the Place de la Concord, The Louvre and Notre Dame.

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 had conceived a security strategy to keep the torch in a safe zone during its 17-mile (28 km) journey — significantly shorter than the 48-kilometer (31-mile) relay undertaken in London Sunday.

The plan was for the torchbearers to be encircled by several hundred officers, some in riot police vehicles and on motorcycles, others on rollerblades and on foot. Closest to the torchbearer would be the Chinese torch escorts, with Paris police on rollerblades moving around them. French firefighters in jogging shoes would encircle the rollerbladers, while motorcycle police would form the outer layer of security.

French Olympic champion Marie-Josee Perec, Portugal forward Pedro Miguel Pauleta and badminton player Pi Hongyan are among the featured torch bearers, although some torch bearers were 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 told CNN before the relay began that 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.”

The protests have been timed to coincide with the run-up to the Summer Olympic Games in Beijing in August.

On Monday, French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner said all options remained open for Paris concerning a possible boycott of the opening of the Beijing Olympics, AP reported.

In London Sunday, the Olympic torch was met with widespread protests and scuffles between demonstrators and police as thousands turned out to protest Olympic host China’s human rights record and its recent clampdown on Tibet.

Some demonstrators threw themselves at the torch, and at least one tried to snatch it away during the 48-kilometer (31-mile) relay. Another tried to put out the flame with a fire extinguisher. They were quickly pushed back and cuffed by Metropolitan Police, which said its officers made 36 arrests on a variety of charges.

Beijing Olympic spokesman condemned “attempts to sabotage” the London relay, according to China’s state-run Xinhua news agency. The official was not named in the article.

China has come under international criticism because of its crackdown last month on protesters calling for democratic freedoms and self-rule in Tibet and neighboring Chinese provinces.

Chinese authorities have denied those allegations and have accused the Dalai Lama of instigating violence among his followers — an allegation he rejects. U.S. and other Western leaders have called on China to provide civil rights and freedoms to those in Tibet and to enter peaceful discussions aimed at resolving the crisis.

In most cases, however, the torch passed through London without incident. Tessa Jowell, Britain’s Olympics minister, called it “a demanding day for the police” and for the Beijing Organizing Committee, but also noted thousands had come out “to welcome the torch.”