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April 7, 2008

Paris Police Extinguish Olympic Torch as Anti-China Protests Mount
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http://enews.voanews.com/t?ctl=1BCC43B:A6F02AD83191E16083F669796569DC1EA13B8D4F2090AB2B& French police
cancel last leg of Olympic torch relay in Paris following widespread
protests against Olympic host China's crackdown in Tibet





French 1997 world 400m hurdles champion Stephane Diagana, center, runs
with Beijing Olympics flame for first relay in Paris amid high
security, 07 Apr 2008

French police have canceled the last leg of the Olympic torch relay in
Paris following widespread protests against Olympic host China's
crackdown in Tibet.

Twice Monday, police extinguished the torch's symbolic flame so they
could transport torch and runner by bus past crowds of angry
protesters, many of them waving Tibetan flags.

The Paris protests followed similar disruptions Sunday in London.

By mid-day Monday, Paris police had to douse the Olympic flame and put
the torch on a bus as it moved along the Seine river, in order to
bypass hundreds of protesters. 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 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.

Some information for this report was provided by AP and Reuters.






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