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Paris echoes London protests as Olympic torch relay cut short

07/04/2008

The Paris leg of the Olympic torch relay has been cut short in the face of renewed anti-China protests.

A day after 37 demonstrators were arrested in London the authorities in the French capital extinguished the flame several times for safety reasons as torchbearers were repeatedly moved on to a bus during the 18-mile route.

The city's mayor also cancelled an accompanying ceremony after a Tibetan flag was draped over City Hall.

Television pictures showed hundreds of pro-Tibetan protestors around the Eiffel Tower, which Reporters Without Borders said had been turned into "Tiananmen Square" by the security arrangements.

Earlier, China condemned protests during the torch's 31-mile route through the UK capital as "vile".

Activists demonstrating against China's rule in Tibet tried to put out the Olympic flame with a fire extinguisher and a man attempted to grab the torch from former Blue Peter presenter Konnie Huq as she carried it through west London.

The torch arrived in the French capital last night, with authorities vowing to protect the flame like "a head of state".

Reacting to yesterday's protests, state media in Beijing blamed a "few Tibetan separatists".

But pressure on China has been stepped up by the head of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), Jacques Rogge, who called on Beijing to reach a "rapid, peaceful resolution of Tibet".

"I'm very concerned with the international situation and what's happening in Tibet," the IOC president said from the Chinese capital.

But Mr Rogge added that the London protestors' actions were "not compatible with the values of the torch relay or the Olympic Games".

The torch was lit in Olympia, Greece, last week and came to London via St Petersburg. It will pass through 20 countries before ending its journey in Beijing for the opening ceremony of the games, on August 8th.

Demonstrators have been reacting to China's suppression of pro-Tibetan protests in the Himalayan region last month.

According to the Tibetan government in exile, led by the Dalai Lama, China used lethal force in its crackdown upon protestors, while Beijing says 19 rioters died.