Olympic torch parade protests in Paris.

Olympic torch parade protests in Paris.

news.sky.com

Hundreds of anti-China protesters are demonstrating as the Olympic torch relay makes its way through the streets of Paris surrounded by a huge security operation.

Thousands of police have been sent out to try to make sure there is no repeat of chaotic scenes seen when the Olympic flame was carried through London.

(visit the link for the full news article)

Breaking news just coming in from Sky that the olympic torch has been extinguished, by olympic officials.

Apparently there is a back up torch, but at the end of the day this is a big thing. The symbol of the olympics, the chain of the flame being passed from country to country has been broken.

I wonder how this will be received in China? I know that it was extinguished due to the chaos caused by the protesters, but France was also talking about boycotting the olympics were'nt they?

CX.

news.sky.com
(visit the link for the full news article)

[edit on 7/4/08 by CX]

*applauds the protestors*


good on them I say,I'm not up to scrathc on the whole situation out there,but from what I see,it ain't good. Looks like the NWO come early for Tibet. The more people who give a dam,the better.

The French leg of this olympic event is going as well as the London parade yesterday.

Something has just happened which caused the torch bearers and entourage to retreat back into the bus and now they are driving for a bit. The torch was once again not lit when they entered that bus.

As a Sky News viewer pointed out earlier, this is more about economics and sport than anything else. If China was'nt such a big player in the worlds economy, everyone would have boycoted them by now.

CX.

Good on them. I’m glad that it has been done. The Beijing 2008 Games should NOT be allowed to go ahead, the Human Rights issues are disgusting.

But this incident has but my faith back in people (although I have never lost faith in the French).

Ah, why I love France, a country that still actually has balls! (something rare to find these days). Gotta love the French!

Mikey

I wonder how long it will be before some one says how disgraceful this is, while continuing to ignore the human rights violation in china. I’m so glad. I hope this happens in every place the torch gose to. It’s not the Olympics any one objects’ to, it’s the fact that it should never been given to that country in the fist place. I know it won’t stop the games, but I know china is watching and cringing lol. This country is not fit to clean toilets.

Interesting to see that Reporters Without Borders seems to be behind all of this.

An old boss of mine - with something like 40 years experience in print and TV media - often remarked that China was "the Prize" - that last, great closed market, waiting to be tapped.

Over a billion people to sell newspapers to, over a billion people to show your commercials to, over a billion ears to plug the latest singles to, over a billion sets of eyes to take in the latest lacklustre hollywood film. That`s got to keep guys like Rupert Murdoch awake at night.

State owned media keeps all of those guys on a short leash - and that means the money isn`t going to newscorp, or CNN, or MSNBC.

Worth keeping in mind, as this all goes forward - you will hear people talk about Press Freedom more and more as August gets closer. Remember the dollar signs behind it. Follow the money, as another old news hound used to say...

Good on the French!



I've seen many apologists on this board who hijack threads with "US and Britain do this.." and justify the actions of China.

The Olympics will go ahead, but I certainly will not be watching any of it. When China opens the game, I'll instead light a candle for Tibet.

Free Tibet.

reply to post by infinite


Those in glass houses....

Whats the above saying, about that people should not throw stones.

reply to post by andy1033


Oh I forget,
I remember you posting China was the symbol of hope against the NWO and UK/US are evil nations who the Illuminati controls.

So you must be right then

Well i'll be watching the olympics, but purely due to fact that the athletes that take part have worked for the best part of thier lives to reach this event.

I don't agree with the whole Tibet/China thing, then again i don't agree with many of the things previous host nations have done....and still do.

I'd hazard a guess that most people who follow the olympics and related sports were not bothered about China/Tibet, or knew little about the issue before Beijing was picked to host the next games. Why were'nt they protesting last year, and the year before?

It's great that this has been put very much in the spotlight, and i applaud the actions of the protesters, but the actions of China will continue whether the games are held or not.

Condemn China......support the event and the athletes. It's a shame to let your countries athletes down purley because the host nation has serious issues.

CX.

Originally posted by CX
Condemn China......support the event and the athletes. It's a shame to let your countries athletes down purley because the host nation has serious issues.

I see your point, but how can you support your athletes and on the other hand condemn China? Surely watching the games will be promoting the games and making you another statistic in those that were willing to watch the games?

Disgusting actions by those who protest.

Those who decide the Olympics, did so on the basis of hoping it would help to encourage China to open up. This didn't work and due to this it was a mistake. However, mistakes can not be changed can they?

Should we cancel the Olympics and punish those athletes who worked for years to get to where they are?

Does stopping the flame cause any issues for China?

What did these protesters do other than harm a SPORTING event.

Stop making the Olympics about politics. Let the athlets do their job, let the viewers enjoy the show. All we are doing is harming the athletes and not the Chinese Government in anyway.

To me, harming those that played NO PART in who got the Olympics makes these people as bad as the Chinese.

Originally posted by Knights

Originally posted by CX
Condemn China......support the event and the athletes. It's a shame to let your countries athletes down purley because the host nation has serious issues.

I see your point, but how can you support your athletes and on the other hand condemn China? Surely watching the games will be promoting the games and making you another statistic in those that were willing to watch the games?

Because the Olympics is a SPORTING EVENT.

You make it about the Politics, nobody else does. If people boycott it, well done you are ruining the lives of people who trained for years (like 10+) to get to where they are.

Well done.

Totaly see your point Knights.

I think it boils down to the fact that i've always watched the games no matter who is hosting them. I have known people who have trained thier hearts out all thier lives for it.

I'll watch the games for the games, not turn the tv off because it's China hosting it.

CX.

To the people saying that politics should not be involved in this are you forgeting that China has been using the event for its own political goals. The truth is the two are wrapped together in 1 package and you are being very ignorant if you try to say otherwise.

The fact that people are protesting over this shows that the people are not happy over the situation, however the people would not have to protest if our govornments actually did something about the situation.

Any Athelete with a 1/2 decent heart would boycott the event, what is your own little bit of personel glory when people are dieing at the hands of the Chinese govornment and you are supporting the Chinese govornment by bringing in money for them?

The British govornment is almost as bad by trying to put stipulations in atheletes contracts to prevent them from speakin out against the Chinese govornment.

It really sickens me.

reply to post by Shinji


Then people should also boycott the 2012 Olympics because of the Human Rights Issues in Iraq. The 1994 Olympics in the USA should have also been boycotted because of the Human Rights issues in America due to their international policy and so on and so fourth.

Last I checked, you represent your Nation as an athlete. Right?

How does that make it in anyway have to do with Politics?

I see 10 people running a race. I don't sit and see: A Republican, a Socialist, two Democrats, you get the picture now.

Nor will you see anything from China in reguards to politics. Will they have signs saying: We did X with Y money in Z community? We built this and that over the last few years?

Asking people to boycott the event will ruin what many people have worked at for years and many of them only get ONE chance.

There's very little difference between killing someone and ruining their life.

Originally posted by Odium
If people boycott it, well done you are ruining the lives of people who trained for years (like 10+) to get to where they are.

I would rather ruin the carear of a few 100 atheletes than give my money to a govornment guilty of killing 1000's of people.

God bless the french!

You can say what you want about the french, many people have predudice views for no real reason but at least they make a stand on what they believe in.
Boycotting the olympics is a right every country has, regardless if people have worked for it to be done there. Every country should make their own stand, if we disagree whole heartedly with what the chinese are doing in their country, then yes i say boycott it.

Personally i think the UK should also boycott it, sadly our prime minister has the spine of an octupus. What the chinese are doing in tibet and to their own citizens is horrible, why we even let a communist state host the games is beyond me. I understand we're all part of a global community but when a member of that community does so much harm to their citizens then they should not get the privileges a democratic state gets.

Originally posted by Shinji

Originally posted by Odium
If people boycott it, well done you are ruining the lives of people who trained for years (like 10+) to get to where they are.

I would rather ruin the carear of a few 100 atheletes than give my money to a govornment guilty of killing 1000's of people.

Your money?

Errr...

It's already been done and dusted and paid for. The money they raise will just go to cover the expenses of building the facilities for these athletes. Also opening up China to international travel is in fact a good thing to help reduce human rights issues. Is it not?

P.S:

You pay taxes in the U.K. to a Government who kills 1000's of people. :-)