Zeenews BureauParis, April 06: French officials were forced to extinguish the Olympic torch in the middle of its relay through the city and put it on a bus at least twice on Monday, after violent protests by demonstrators protesting China’s human rights record marred the ceremony.
Several hundred demonstrators waving banners had gathered on the Trocadero esplanade, just the other side of the river Seine from the Eiffel Tower, where the relay got under way.
France had deployed more than 3,000 police officers, some on roller blades, along the 17 miles Paris leg of relay, to the Charlety stadium, on the southern edge of town.
This is an unprecedented incident as the Olympics torch is not meant to be extinguished before reaching the host country. A traditional lantern that follows the torch, and must not be extinguished at any cost, was spared similar fate.
The Olympic torch is scheduled to reach Beijing, which will be the host for the 2008 Olympics, in August.
However, according to reports, the torch was soon after re-lit and the relay allowed to resume.
The Olympic flame arrived at the Charles de Gaulle Airport on Monday, ahead of a high-security tour through the French capital.
The flame was welcomed by China's Ambassador to France, Mr Kong Quan, and former athlete Guy Drut. But French President Nicholas Sarkozy stayed away from the welcoming ceremony of the torch to register his protest.
Earlier, Thousands of protesters waving Tibetan flags and shouting "Shame on China" disrupted the Olympic torch's marathon relay through London on Sunday, billed as a journey of harmony and peace.
The flame survived a 31-mile (50-km) obstacle course of lurching demonstrators, an unexpected protective trip on a double-decker bus and even a fire extinguisher to arrive in Greenwich, southeast London, where double gold medalist Kelly Holmes lit up the Olympic cauldron.
