Paris Torch Song

By GORDON FAIRCLOUGH in Shanghai, STACY MEICHTRY and MAX COLCHESTER in Paris and LORETTA CHAO in Beijing
April 8, 2008; Page A8
Thousands of French police struggled to keep the Olympic torch moving -- and lit -- through throngs of protesters in Paris Monday, the latest event to draw angry crowds objecting to China's policies in Tibet and its human-rights record.

The troubled journey of the torch is stirring anger among people in Shanghai and Beijing at what they feel is unfair treatment of China.

"Chinese people should all be indignant," said Du Chunhua, who works for a trading company in the Chinese capital. "I think it's really bad that they are trying to ruin such a peaceful event."


Associated Press
Police officers tackled an anti-China, pro-Tibet demonstrator, during the Olympic torch parade near the Eiffel Tower.
Envisioned by the Chinese government as a kind of international coming-out party to celebrate China's expanding economy and role on the world stage, the Beijing Olympics are now threatening the nation's image. The relay carrying the torch to Beijing has become a forum for criticism, and an event that many hoped would promote understanding between China and the West is instead laying bare their divergent views.

On Monday in Paris, the torch's appearance sparked a chaotic scene. At one point, it appeared unlit while being carried by a woman in a wheelchair. Moments later, organizers placed the torch inside a bus transporting Chinese officials, and police on in-line skates surrounded the vehicle as it continued along the route.

A police spokeswoman said the torch was extinguished at least once during the relay. The actual flame, which was lit in Olympia, Greece, in late March, remained burning inside a lantern in the bus as a backup.


China condemns demonstrations which disrupted the Olympic torch relay in London. The Olympic flame is expected to remain a magnet for anti-Chinese protests ahead of the Games in Beijing in August.
Activists have spent months planning similar protests for San Francisco, where the torch will travel Wednesday. It made a difficult journey through a snowy London Sunday, where a protester managed to break through security and momentarily grip it.

The protests have been fueled by recent events in Tibet, where peaceful demonstrations that began in early March turned into violence that met with a forceful Chinese government response. China also is being slammed for its overall human-rights record, as well as its ties to repressive regimes such as Sudan and Myanmar.

Jean Pierre Bonville, a 59-year-old lawyer from Belgium, traveled to Paris with his 12-year-old son to protest. "This is not just about Tibet; it's about the right to freedom in general," he said.

Many, if not most, Chinese, however, see their country as freer -- and more prosperous -- than at any time in their lifetimes. For them, the Games are seen as a celebration of their economic, political and social progress.

At least some of the demonstrations have been blocked from broadcasts in China, particularly interruptions in the lighting of the torch in Athens. As the protests have continued, they are being reported in the Chinese press, though often not promptly. In the Chinese media, the protests have been generally blamed only on Tibetan separatists.

The protesters "should come here and see for themselves," said Han Hailing, 26, an urban planner in Beijing. "They don't understand what's going on here. But you can't blame them, either. They're getting wrong information from the media."


Ms. Han said "every government has its problems," but added: "I have to say the Chinese government is right" on the way it is handling Tibet. "The government has already invested a lot" in Tibet and other ethnic-minority areas, she said.

Such sentiments have drawn ethnic Chinese to the defense of China and the torch. In Paris, Tibetan protesters faced off in a shouting match with China supporters waving the country's red and gold national flag and chanting "Bravo, Beijing."

Shen Shuang, a 27-year-old woman from China, said she traveled to Paris from Marseille to show her support for the Beijing Olympics. With her face painted with Chinese flags, she ran alongside the convoy dodging protesters who blew whistles at her. "I can keep this up all day," she said.

As the torch traveled from the Eiffel Tower along the Seine River, hundreds of activists draped in Tibet flags poured into the street chanting "Free Tibet," trying to block the route.

Large vans and trucks helped clear a path for the torch through the crowds as police clad in heavy shoulder and arm pads locked arms with shouting protesters and forced some to the ground. A group of Chinese guards in tracksuits ran alongside the flame.

Authorities were forced to take further precautions as several protesters broke through the police wall to get within steps of the torch.

Part of what made the protests so difficult to contain was their scale -- both large and small. Members of the Paris rights group Reporters Without Borders managed to climb a section of the Eiffel Tower and unfurl a giant banner that depicted the Olympic rings as interlocking handcuffs.

Yolaine De La Bigne, a torchbearer, wore an armband depicting the Tibetan flag as she received the torch. Chinese guards who were running alongside her ripped the band off her arm as soon she tried to display it, she said.

Sun Weide, a spokesman for the Beijing Olympics, Monday criticized protesters who tried to disrupt the relay in London. "A few Tibetan separatists attempted to sabotage the torch relay in London, and we strongly denounce their disgusting behavior," Mr. Sun said.

For many Chinese, who read about the protests and see images online, the troubles with the torch relay seem far from the reality of China as they perceive it.

China this year is marking the 30th anniversary of Deng Xiaoping's decision to turn away from central planning and toward markets and to reopen China to the rest of the world.

These changes have transformed China from a Communist backwater to the world's fourth-largest economy.

Cheng Hongyu, a 25-year-old French-language student, said the protesters "don't live here. From their perspective, they are seeing problems, but they don't see the whole picture."

Write to Gordon Fairclough at gordon.fairclough@wsj.com, Stacy Meichtry at stacy.meichtry@wsj.com, Max Colchester at max.colchester@wsj.com and Loretta Chao at loretta.chao@wsj.com