IOC may scrap Olympic torch relay over protests

Times of London ^ | 04/08/08 | Jenny Booth, and Chris Ayres

[TigerLikesRooster]

April 8, 2008

IOC may scrap Olympic torch relay over protests

Jenny Booth, and Chris Ayres in Los Angeles

The International Olympic Committee may scrap the international leg of the Beijing Olympic torch relay as a result of the protests over China’s military crackdown in Tibet.

Jacques Rogge, the IOC President, says the organisation’s executive board will meet on Friday to debate whether to allow the torch to continue its 85,000-mile, 21-country journey.

Mr Rogge said this morning that he was “deeply saddened" by the violent protests in London and Paris, and concerned about tomorrow's torch relay in San Francisco.

The IOC is holding its last official meetings in the Chinese capital this week with organisers of the Beijing games. Gunilla Lindberg, a Swedish IOC member, said that the protests surrounding the torch relay were “damaging the Olympic movement”. “I think it is very sad. I get angry,” Ms Lindberg said.

“Using the torch this way is almost a crime. This is the property of the IOC, it is not a Chinese torch.”

Kevan Gosper, an IOC member from Australia, agreed. “All I can say is we are desperately disappointed,” he said.

IOC officials had warned their Chinese colleagues that London, Paris and San Francisco “would be sensitive places”, he said, and China's recent crackdown in Tibet had "stirred the potential for protest".

He added that he had always opposed such an extensive international route. Mr Gosper said: "I’m a firm believer that we had the right template in the first place, that the torch simply should go from Olympia, Greece, to the host country.

The torch has been attracting ever more forceful protests since was lit in Olympia, Greece, last week.

More than 35 people were arrested in London on Sunday and the torch had to be re-routed on several occasions as police, taken by surprise by the vigour of the demonstrations, battled to keep pro-Tibet protesters - some armed with fire extinguishers - away from the flame.

There were continual scuffles along the route as members of the relay team handed over the flame to the next runner.

In Paris yesterday the flame had to be put out four times and the torch taken into protective custody aboard a bus due to the strength of the protests.

The Eiffel Tower and Notre Dame Cathedral were draped in protest banners showing the Olympic rings as handcuffs, and the mayor of Paris, Bertrand Delanoe, canceled a welcoming ceremony for the Olympic Torch amid the chaos.

Authorities fear that San Francisco, one of America’s most liberal cities — where some of the largest Iraq war demonstrations have been held — could see protests even more violent than London and Paris.

Even the city’s supervisors recently voted 8-3 for a resolution to accept the flame only with “alarm and protest” at China’s Tibet policy.

As a result of the controversy, the route of the flame has been dramatically shortened to a 9.6km loop along the San Francisco waterfront, and will no longer stop in the city’s historic Chinatown or on the Golden Gate Bridge. Several hundred police officers will form a security blanket around the torch when it passes through the narrow city streets.

Some 200 activists in San Francisco have already organised their own “human rights torch relay” in anticipation of tomorrow’s event. “Our message is that the Olympic torch and crimes against humanity cannot co-exist,” said the organiser, Steve Ispas.

Another group calling itself the Committee of 100 (C100) for Tibet will today hold a “Tibetans Freedom Torch”, with Archbishop Desmond Tutu and the actor Richard Gere attending. C100 has bought a billboard advertisement that reads: “Stand up for Tibet, say ’No’ to China’s bloody torch.”

Chinese community leaders in San Francisco have questioned whether countries castigating China’s human rights records have the moral authority to do so, and they say that Chinese-Americans will proudly welcome the torch.

Meanwhile, San Francisco’s Mayor, Gavin Newsom — who didn’t support the city’s ‘alarm and protest’ resolution — has attempted to downplay the politics of the event.

“We have the right to free expression — all of us — as long as it doesn’t infringe on the rights of others,” he said.

“It’s not the US’s torch, not Beijing’s torch, it’s the Olympic torch."

After San Francisco the torch is next due to visit Buenos Aires, Dar Es Salaam, Muscat, Islamabad, Mumbai, Bangkok, Kuala Lumpur, Jakarta, Canberra, Nagano, Seoul, Pyongyang, Ho Chi Minh City, and Taipei. It then arrives on the Chinese territory of Hong Kong, moving on through Macao for a grand tour of mainland China before arriving in Beijing on August 2, two days before the start of the games.

If the IOC votes to scrap the international leg of the torch relay, it is likely that the Olympic flame would go straight to China.

The concept of an international relay is a new invention, beginning with the 2000 Sydney Olympics, and has now expanded to 21 cities outside mainland China for the Beijing Olympics.

Alex Gilady, an IOC member for Israel, said that the committee had already discussed ending the international relay after the Beijing games, and that it would likely come up again.

“This will be a discussion again,” Gilady said. “Not now, but after the Games.”

[TigerLikesRooster]

Protesters in San Francisco gear up for arrival of Olympic torch tomorrow with banners on Golden Gate bridge

IOC president Jacques Rogge, seen here on a visit to Beijing, says the international torch relay may have to be scrapped

A pro-Tibet protester is arrested in Paris yesterday

Chinese security guards had to form a protective phalanx around the torchbearer to ensure clear passage

There were more than 35 arrests as the torch passed through London on Sunday amid chaotic scenes

The 2,000 police on the streets struggled to cope with the vigorous protests along the 31 mile route

[TigerLikesRooster]

Ping!

[mylife]

We quit!

“there’s the olympic spirit!”

[LibLieSlayer]

I think it is telling that sanfruitcisco is the only city in America to host the torch. I hope the torch burns in into the ground!

[Ronin]

“Using the torch this way is almost a crime. This is the property of the IOC, it is not a Chinese torch.”

Then why is it surrounded by Chicom strumtruppen wherever it goes?

[patch789]

are goons from the Chinese army going
to protect the torch, when the torch is in S.F.?

[rod1]

The IOC responds like spoiled child whose playtime got interrupted. They connected the torch and the olympics to a brutal regime abusing a peace nation (Tibet). Maybe they need to show better judgement and be worryied less about less payola and wine-and-dine site visits in making their host nation decisions next time.

They made their bed on this one.

[TheBattman]

I would prefer just to scrap the whole Olympics this year....

[Humble Servant]

” “Using the torch this way is almost a crime. This is the property of the IOC, it is not a Chinese torch.” “

Using the Olympics the way the Communist Chinese are using it is a crime. Vive la Protestation!

[Humble Servant]

“Strumtruppen”? “STRUMTRUPPEN”?

Sounds like a goose-stepping phalanx of banjo players to me!

(Now THAT’S scary).

[11th Commandment]

I wonder what the reaction of the Chi Com security guys is going to be when the torch goes through San Fran and a bunch of Homosexuals protestors dressed in Speedos rush the runner to grab the torch. I'm thinking the Blue Shirts might just back off and the touch will fall to lewd and lascivious acts.

[Gatún(CraigIsaMangoTreeLawyer)]

“It’s not the US’s torch, not Beijing’s torch, it’s the Olympic torch.”

Good.

Go to New York City and burn down the U.N. building.

[Old Phone Man]

Screw the olympics and the tourch they carry....I’m sick of these pampered athletes prancing around for their crooked countries (ours included)....The bums should go out and get a real job, hellthey all are cheaters nnd liars.
I wouldn’t trust those gymnastic coaches around my daughter either(if I had one)...God only knows what they do to those little pampered gymnist brats ....The brats are liked some cloned product swinging like monkeys in a zoo on those bars....
What we should do is start kockin’ those chinese thugs who guard the torch on their heads......Scrw ‘em all!

I hateto say it,but I side in tith that scum clinton on this one.....Boycott the olympics!!!!

[Mad_Tom_Rackham]

Why not just issue new equipment. Gotta adapt to the times..

[Emperor Palpatine]

"Gunilla Lindberg, a Swedish IOC member, said that the protests surrounding the torch relay were “damaging the Olympic movement”. “I think it is very sad. I get angry,” Ms Lindberg said."


Get a clue, Gunilla! What the Chicoms are doing in Tibet is damaging to the Olympic movement. The idiots at the IOC giving the games to them in the first place is also damaging to the Olympic movement.

[TigersEye]

He added that he had always opposed such an extensive international route. Mr Gosper said: "I’m a firm believer that we had the right template in the first place, that the torch simply should go from Olympia, Greece, to the host country.

So, the IOC didn't want the torch making a world tour in the first place. Idiots. Ever notice that the ChiComs insist on controlling everything? You lost control when you gave the Olympics to China.

[JACKRUSSELL]

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