Olympic torch relay cut short in Paris amid pro-Tibet protests
The Olympic torch relay was cut short in Paris on Monday after thousands of anti-China protesters made athletes' progress through the city impossible.
About 28 people were arrested in the demonstrations, focused on China's crackdown on the Tibetan independence movement, a day after 37 people were detained in London on the previous leg of the relay.
The torch relay, which was supposed to be a high-profile advertisement for the Beijing games, is increasingly becoming an embarrassment for China.
After today's relay was called off, the torch was brought by bus to the final destination in Paris, the Charlety Stadium.
Since a Chinese crackdown on mass protests in Tibetan capital Lhasa in mid-March, international attention has been focused on human rights in China, and several European Union countries have called for a boycott of the August 8-24 Olympic Games.
Paris Mayor Bertrand Delanoe cancelled today's welcome ceremony for the torch relay after activists from France's Green Party hung a black banner showing the Olympic rings as six handcuffs on the city hall, along with a Tibetan flag.
The European Parliament is likely to call for a boycott by European Leaders of the Olympic opening ceremony in Beijing, demanding that China engage in talks with Tibet's exiled spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, who Beijing accuses of inciting violence during the Lhasa protests, an allegation he denies.
Further protests are expected in San Francisco and New Delhi, which are also on the torch relay's 21-stop tour, spanning six continents.
The protests in Tibet began on March 10, when Buddhist monks held a demonstration marking the 49th anniversary of a failed uprising against Chinese rule of the mountainous province. The rallies turned violent four days later, when exiled Tibetans say Chinese forces launched a brutal campaign of arrests and shooting, killing around 140 people. Beijing says only 13 people were killed, 12 of them Han Chinese murdered by Tibetan separatists.
The Olympic torch relay was cut short in Paris on Monday after thousands of anti-China protesters made athletes' progress through the city impossible.
