“Flame of Shame”: Protests Disrupt Olympic Torch Lighting Ceremony
Filed Under Tibet, Human Rights, China | Posted on March 24, 2008
From CNN:
Three protesters charged onto the field of an ancient Greek stadium to unfurl a banner calling for a boycott to the Beijing Summer Games. The brief disruption unnerved thousands of spectators, dignitaries and Olympic officials who packed into the sprawling ancient stadium to watch actresses posing as priestesses light the Olympic flame from the sun’s rays. More protests, however, followed later as the torch relay began. A Tibetan woman covered herself with red paint and lay on the ground, forcing torchbearers to weave around her as other protesters shouted “Flame of shame.”
And a senior Greek Olympics official said: “We have Tibetans popping out of every corner protesting during the torch relay. It will be very difficult to guard this relay.”
The BBC has video of the protests.
CNN video of a Students for a Free Tibet leader being arrested by Greek police following confrontation with Jacques Rogge of the IOC.
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