France: Officials put out Olympic torch 3 times (badly traumatized Chicom torch)

AP ^ | 04/07/08 | JEROME PUGMIRE and ELAINE GANLEY

[TigerLikesRooster]

Police and security forces surround an athlete as he carries the Olympic torch on the Champs Elysees in Paris April 7, 2008. Eighty Olympic torch relay runners cover 28 km (17 miles) from the Eiffel Tower to the Charlety stadium in the French capital. REUTERS/Benoit Tessier (FRANCE)

Pro-Tibet protestors demonstrate at the Trocadero place opposite the Eiffel tower during the Beijing Olympics flame relay in Paris. Paris city hall has cancelled a ceremony to mark the passge of the Beijing Olympic torch through the French capital, the mayor said. (AFP/POOL/Bertrand Langlois)

Demonstrators shout during the Olympic Torch relay in Paris, Monday April 7, 2008. Chaotic protests against China's human rights policies forced security officials to extinguish the Olympic torch twice during a relay Monday through Paris that became a tortured procession of stops and starts. Poster reads: The Torch in Paris, Guns in Beijing. (AP Photo/Francois Mori)

Pro-Tibet demonstrators and members of the French rights group Reporters Without Borders (RSF) hold banners which show handcuffs in the form of Olympic rings during the Paris leg of the Olympic torch relay April 7, 2008. Protests over China's crackdown on Tibet forced organisers in Paris to put the Olympic torch on a bus on Monday to protect it from demonstrators. Eighty Olympic torch relay runners cover 28 km (17 miles) from the Eiffel Tower to the Charlety stadium in the French capital. REUTERS/Jacky Naegelen (FRANCE) ++ EDITORS NOTE THAT FRENCH LAW REQUIRES THAT FACES OF LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICERS ARE MASKED IN PUBLICATIONS WITHIN FRANCE ++

Police security run beside the bus where the torch was placed after it set off from the Eiffel Tower in Paris April 7, 2008. Protests over China's crackdown on Tibet forced organisers in Paris to put the Olympic torch on a bus on Monday to protect it from demonstrators. Eighty Olympic torch relay runners cover 28 km (17 miles) from the Eiffel Tower to the Charlety stadium in the French capital. REUTERS/Jacky Naegelen (FRANCE)

[TigerLikesRooster]

Ping!

[Santa Fe_Conservative]

Maybe it’s a sign...

[TCats]

Aside from the obvious basis for these protests, this exercise in Olympic hype must be costing a fortune. These Security people have special Olympic outfits (Probably made in China) and there are veritable armies of them.

Doubt these Olympics will be profitable but that OK with the Chinese. They'll just sell a few more toys to the U.S. and/or charge U.S. media a little more for the coverage. IMO nothing but a commercial extravaganza barely related to the true Olympic Spirit. Again, JMO.

[maggief]

French former tennis player Arnaud Di Pasquale reacts as he carries an extinguished Beijing Olympics flame in Paris. Pro-Tibet activists have disrupted the Paris relay of the Beijing Olympic torch, clashing with police and three times forcing torchbearers to extinguish the flame and take refuge on a bus.

[ASOC]

I suppose if people were ‘really’ upset about China and human rights

they would quit buying ANYTHING from China.

Dollars, or lack thereof, speak louder than a bucket of water on some poor old (local) dude carrying some cheezy torch.

But, that’s just me.

[WakeUpAndVote]

Anyone see any ROP youths here burning things.

I didn’t either.

[Atlantic Bridge]

News from

Wonderful pictures:

This Chinese official is obviously not amused about his extinguished torch.

Where has the flame gone??! ;)

Vive la France!

[gunservative]

Stupid torch. I hate the Olympics.

[mewzilla]

Are those guys carrying the torch supposed to be athletes? They look more like military types.

[Centurion2000]

Some 3,000 officers were deployed on motorcycles, in jogging gear and using inline roller skates. Still, police barely stopped the second rush at the torch, and the attempt to extinguish it with water. Other demonstrators scaled the Eiffel Tower and hung a banner depicting the Olympic rings as handcuffs.

3000 to guard a freakin flame going to a communist regime. PATHETIC.

[indcons]

Great photos - this Olympics needs to be boycotted. I’ve started by stopping my consumption of Coke - an unrepentant sponsor of the Peiping Genocide Olympics 2008.

I’ve also stopped patronizing WalMart - the biggest booster for the PLA. Yep - it hurts the pocket but this is a small sacrifice that I can do to protest against the coddling of the ChiCom tyrants and their enablers.

Thanks for the ping - tiger likes rooster

[TigerLikesRooster]

LOL. Cops are really wearing Rollerblades.:-)

[WakeUpAndVote]

Excuze moi! If you are trying to be one of those muslum youths, shouldn't that me lit?

[Atlantic Bridge]

Are those guys carrying the torch supposed to be athletes? They look more like military types.

They are watchdogs from China.

[11th Commandment]

China is in a world of hurt when the European Socialist and American Conservatives agree!

I would encourage Bush to not attend the opening ceremonies but attend the games. The opening ceremony is for the Country and the games are for the Athletes.

[JZelle]

” ...quit buying ANYTHING from China.”

NO WAY! Where else would I get freezeproof toothpaste?

[Atlantic Bridge]

LOL. Cops are really wearing Rollerblades.:-)

Yeah! And it didn't help at all.

BTW - there are also funny pics from London on the net, where demonstrators used fire extinguishers. Very impressing.

[TigerLikesRooster]

Thanks for posting the photos. They are great.
I will look for London pictures if I have time.:-)

[CougarGA7]

I agree. There are people how have been training their entire life for this one moment and I would hate to see us pull a Jimmy Carter and take that opportunity from them. I would just skip the opening ceremonies.

Or maybe march in with a Tibetan flag. That would be funny.