Paris Police Extinguish Olympic Torch as Anti-China Protests Mount

Monday's protests in Paris followed similar disruptions in London on Sunday.

Witnesses say Paris police had to douse the flame and put the torch on a bus as it moved along the Seine river, in order to bypass hundreds of people protesting China's recent crackdown in Tibet. The flame was put out a second time after protesters blocked it from leaving a Paris traffic tunnel.

Other demonstrators unfurled a black flag from the Eiffel Tower with Olympic rings drawn as handcuffs.

Three-thousand French police on foot, motorcycle, bicycle and roller-skates were on hand Monday to protect the torch from pro-Tibet demonstrators.

In London Sunday, police repeatedly scuffled with pro-Tibetan activists protesting China's human rights record as Beijing prepares to host the Olympic Summer Games in August.

Chinese state-run media did not broadcast the Paris protests, but earlier, Chinese media condemned the London protesters and called them "separatists."

Activists angered by China's recent crackdown on Tibet have been staging protests since last month when the flame embarked on its journey from Greece to Beijing.

At least 30 people were arrested in London on Sunday as activists tried to grab the torch from a relay runner. Other protesters, some draped in Tibetan flags, tried to put out the flame with a fire extinguisher.

Source: By VOA News