Extinguished

You almost have to feel bad for the Chinese government. Almost.

Actually, nope. Not really.

The Olympic torch, which winds its way around the world leading up to the opening ceremonies, has been extinguished twice in just the past 24 hours by protesters.

The torch was being carried by a wheelchair athlete when it was halted and extinguished for a second time due to demonstrators shouting, according to AP. Backup flames, also lit from the birthplace of the ancient games in Olympia, Greece, are on call with the relay at all times to relight the torch.

Agencies report that the relay has now resumed.

The incidents came one day after human-rights activist demonstrators made the torch's journey through London more like running the gauntlet than a journey of celebration, with UK police making more than two dozen arrests. What do you think of protests at the Olympic torch relay?

The torch departed the Eiffel Tower, carried by 400-meter athlete Stephane Diagana, at around 1030 GMT (0630 ET) to crisscross a city thronged with thousands of police and demonstrators, shouting and waving flags. It was then due to be carried through the boulevards of the French capital, passing landmarks including l'Arc d'Triomphe, the Place de la Concord, The Louvre and Notre Dame.

Jim Bittermann, CNN's senior European correspondent based in Paris, said that while it was hard to gauge numbers, it looked like thousands of demonstrators had taken to the streets -- although some were Chinese backing the Olympics.

37 arrests were made in Paris as the torch wound its way around major landmarks in the city. This all occurred despite extremely heavy security and police presence designed to prevent a repeat of the events in London the day before when protesters managed to extinguish the Olympic torch as it wound its way through London. According to the Times, the French prevented a repeat of the torch going out, but other outlets say that it was, indeed, extinguished.

The Chinese Communists deserve this kind of embarrassment because of their heinous record of oppression and repression of the rights of the Tibetan people. The Chinese government had hoped to make a huge splash with the Beijing Olympics, and instead, the world is getting treated to a very public display of just how the Chinese operate.

Riots and demonstrations continue in Tibet against the brutal Chinese government. For their part, Tibetan exiles are engaging in nonviolent demonstrations by tonsuring their heads (ritual shaving their heads).

The refugees say they are resorting to peaceful means and are abiding by the Dalai Lama's call for non-violence.

The Dalai Lama had pointed out to the Tibetan exiles that their activities could be interpreted as 'violent' and can aggravate the current situation. He urged them to be 'extra vigilant'.

China has accused the Dalai Lama, of orchestrating a rash of monk-led protests and rioting - the most serious in the Himalayan region for nearly two decades - in a bid to wreck the August 8-24 Beijing Olympic Games.

At least 22 people have died in the fighting in Tibet according to the Chinese authorities.

UPDATE:
Make it three times that the torch was extinguished as it made its way through Paris.

Despite massive security, at least two activists got within almost an arm's length of the flame before they were grabbed by police. Officers tackled many protesters and carried off some of them. A protester threw water at the torch but failed to extinguish it and was also taken away.

At the start of the relay, a man identified as a Green Party activist was grabbed by security officers as he headed for 1997 400-meter world champion Stephane Diagana, the president of France's national athletics league, who was carrying the torch from the first floor of the Eiffel Tower. The man was tackled before he got close to Diagana.

The procession continued but, soon after, a crowd of activists waving Tibetan flags interrupted it for the first time by confronting the torchbearer on a road along the Seine River. The demonstrators did not appear to get close to the torch, but its flame was put out by security officers and brought on board a bus to continue along the route.

Less than an hour later, the flame was being carried out of a Paris traffic tunnel by an athlete in a wheelchair when the procession was halted by activists who booed and chanted "Tibet." Once again, the torch was temporarily extinguished and put on a bus despite protesters' apparent failure to get close.

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.

The torch was extinguished for the third time when police interrupted the procession as a precaution because they spotted a crowd of demonstrators on a bridge they were approaching.

Police said they did not immediately have a count of the number of arrests. Mireille Ferri, a Green Party official, said she was held by police for two hours because she approached the Eiffel Tower area with a fire extinguisher. In various locations throughout the city, activists angry about China's human rights record and repression Tibet carried Tibetan flags and waved signs reading "the flame of shame."

Riot police squirted tear gas to break up a sit-in protest by about 300 pro-Tibet demonstrators who blocked the torch route.

France's former sports minister, Jean-Francois Lamour, said that though the torch had been put out, the Olympic flame itself still burned in the lantern where it is kept overnight and on airplane flights.

"The torch has been extinguished but the flame is still there," he told France Info radio.

UPDATE:
CNN reports that the torch relay through Paris has been canceled for the rest of the day due to the ongoing disturbances and demonstrations. Ouch.

UPDATE:
Meanwhile, protesters have managed to scale the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco to display a Tibetan flag. No doubt that they'll be charged with trespassing and other related charges, but it likely also affected traffic in the area.