.
Security men tackle Green Party activist Sylvain Garel, third left at rear, as he tries to approach Stephane Diagana, right, the 400-meter world champion in 1997, as he carries the Olympic torch at the beginning of its relay from the first floor of the Eiffel tower in Paris, Monday, April 7, 2008. Security officials have extinguished the Olympic Torch amid heavy protests during the torch relay in Paris. Police in jogging gear put the flame out and brought it aboard a bus, apparently to move it away from protesters. The flame was being carried down a road along the Seine River amid demonstrators carrying Tibetan flags when the relay was stopped. It is not immediately clear what police plan next, or when or where the relay will resume.
(AP Photo/Christophe Ena)
AP: At least two activists earlier got within almost an arm’s length of the flame before they were grabbed by police. A protester threw water at the torch but failed to extinguish it and was taken away. Officers tackled numerous protesters and carried some away.
The chaos started on the Eiffel Tower’s first floor moments after the relay began. Green Party activist Sylvain Garel lunged for the first torchbearer, former hurdler Stephane Diagana, and shouted Freedom for the Chinese!” Security officials pulled Garel back.
“It is inadmissible that the games are taking place in the world’s biggest prison,” Garel said later.
Filed under: Green Party Websites, international politics
Leave a Reply