Friday, April 18, 2008
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BOCOG Departments

NEW DELHI, April 15 -- Thousands of Tibetan protesters from across India have gathered here in the past week in anticipation of the arrival of the Olympic torch Thursday, as nervous government officials tightened security to ward off any threat to the relay run.
Protesters have planned hunger strikes, flag marches and dramatic reenactments of the uprising in Lhasa, the Tibetan capital. Some youth groups are plotting what could become disruptive street action along the route of what one Indian television channel called the "tortured torch."
"We are being watched by the authorities constantly. Wherever we go, their shadow is following us. So we carry out much of our planning not in meetings, but by cellphone calls and text messages," said Tenzin Tsundue, a 33-year-old activist, waving his two cellphones as he sat under a colorful panoply of flags and banners.
Many members of the Tibetan Youth Congress, a group that publicly disagrees with the cautious approach of the Tibetan spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, have gone underground, fearing police surveillance and preventive detention.
India is home to the largest population of Tibetan exiles in the world and hosts the Tibetan government-in-exile. Indian government officials have told China that they will not try to stop Tibetan protests as long as they are peaceful.

Riding with the mayor, Peter Ueberroth, chairman of the United States Olympic Committee, said he was satisfied with the relay. He said the U.S. had struck the right balance between preserving freedom of speech for protesters, providing an exhilarating experience for the torchbearers, and preventing a repeat of the chaotic demonstrations that accompanied the torch in London and Paris.
"As close as anybody can do in a free society, so far its looking very good," Ueberroth said. "Virtually anybody and everybody is being heard."
On April 9, the Olympic torch relay kicked off at McCovey Cove, San Francisco. San Francisco is the sixth leg of the Beijing Olympic torch relay around the world. The photo shows two torchbearers holding the Olympic torch and running together.
Norman Bellingham (R), chief Operating Officer of the United States Olympic Committee, gives the torch to torchbearer Lin Li at the McCovey Cove, the start of the Olympic torch relay in San Francisco, the United States, April 9, 2008. San Francisco is the sixth stop of the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games torch relay outside the Chinese mainland. (Photo credit: Xinhua)
SAN FRANCISCO - The Olympic torch was rerouted away from thousands of demonstrators and spectators who crowded the city's waterfront Wednesday to witness the flame's symbolic journey to the Beijing Games.

BEIJING (Reuters) - China on Tuesday condemned the disruption of the Olympic torch relay in London and Paris, vowing it would not impede the Olympic spirit.
Officials in Paris on Monday were forced to extinguish the Olympic flame and carry it by bus when anti-China protesters tried to seize it. During the British leg the day before, activists waving Tibetan flags and shouting "Shame on China" turned the event into an obstacle course.
"We express our strong condemnation of the deliberate disruption of the Olympic torch relay by 'Tibetan independence' separatist forces, who gave no thought to the Olympic spirit or the laws of Britain and France," Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu said in a statement posted at www.fmprc.gov.cn.
"Their despicable activities tarnish the lofty Olympic spirit."

French Olympic chief, spectators condemn disruption of Olympic torch relay in Paris |
PARIS, April 7 (Xinhua) -- Head of the French Olympic Committee and spectators on Monday strongly condemned the disruption of the Olympic torch relay here by Tibetan separatists and their supporters. Henri Serandour, head of the French Olympic Committee criticized the disruption as "highly regrettable." "I think that people should have let this flame through, that they could have held their protests to one side," he said. "Everyone has a right to express themselves but to stop it passing shows a lack of respect for the basic freedom of our athletes to carry this flame, which is a message of peace to the whole world," the chief said. Another member of the French Olympic Committee said that the Olympic torch relay should not be affected in any way. "The Olympic sacred fire is a symbol of peace, tolerance... and should not be affected by anybody in any way," Guy Drut told France 3 television. Chairman of "Europe-China Cooperation" Club Alain Destrem said that the attempt to block the Olympic torch relay in Paris was "unacceptable". It was a "shameful" scene appearing in the hometown of Pierre De Coubertin, father of the modern Olympic Games, and those people participating in the disruption should be condemned, he said. He expressed his sincere hopes the Olympic flame can safely and smoothly arrive in Beijing, and Beijing will hold a highly-appreciated Olympic Games. A French mother bringing her four-year-old daughter to come to see the torch relay told a Xinhua correspondent that the event would have been a festival of celebration if without those disruptions. "Their behavior will only humiliate themselves," she said. Her view was shared by others lining along the relay route. "We've come here only to watch the torch relay," said a Paris student, who gave his first name as Mark. "What in the world does this have anything to do with us except for annoying us?" he added, pointing to Tibetan separatist demonstrators. As one of a few invited foreign torch bearers, Chinese handicapped athlete Jin Jing just finished torch relaying in front of the Eiffel Tower. She said: "The disruption of torch relay and binding sports with politics make people resentful." "From the expression on spectators' faces, I can see that they don't approve those sabotaging actions as well," said she. The Olympic torch in Paris, the fifth leg of its global travel, was repeatedly disrupted by Tibetan separatists and their supporters who tried to grab the torch or block the relay route. The torch had to be carried on bus several times as precaution measures against the protesters. |