Olympic torch security 'bubble' for Paris leg

Around 3,000 French police on motorcycles, in jogging gear and on skates will protect the Olympic torch relay today as it departs from the Eiffel Tower and criss-crosses Paris amid threats of pro-Tibet protests.

When the torch passed through London yesterday, police repeatedly scuffled with activists angry about China’s human rights record leading up to the Beijing Olympics from August 8-24.

One protester tried to grab the torch, while another tried to snuff out the flame with what appeared to be a fire extinguisher. Thirty people were arrested.

Even before the chaos in London, Paris police had conceived an elaborate security plan to keep the torch in a safe “bubble”.

French torchbearers will be encircled by several hundred officers, some in riot police vehicles and on motorcycles, others on skates and on foot. Three boats will also patrol the Seine River and a helicopter will fly over Paris.

About 80 athletes will carry the torch over a 17.4-mile route that starts at the Eiffel Tower, heads down the Champs-Elysees avenue towards City Hall, then crosses over the Seine before ending at the Charlety athletics stadium.

Pro-Tibet activists have threatened demonstrations, saying they would not reveal their exact plans until today.

The head of Reporters Without Borders, arrested in Greece last month for protesting during the flame-lighting ceremony there, said the group had altered its initial plans because of the heavy police turnout.

Without giving away details, Robert Menard promised protests would, nonetheless, be “spectacular”.

Mr Menard also claimed France had caved in to demands from Beijing for tight security.

“The Chinese have made sure that for a few hours, Paris will look like Tiananmen Square,” he said. “I think it’s shameful.”

Paris’s mayor and French torchbearers, meanwhile, plan to show support for human rights during the relay.

Two-time French judo gold medalist David Douillet said torch carriers would wear badges reading: “For a better world” – which French athletes hope to be permitted to wear in Beijing as well. Meanwhile, Paris City Hall is to be draped with a banner supporting human rights.

Stephane Diagana, the 400-metre world champion in 1997 who is now president of France’s national athletics league, will be the first to carry the torch. He urged the International Olympic Committee to put more public pressure on China and added that he was glad to see athletes speaking up.

“Athletes need to keep their freedom of expression,” he said last week. “Human rights are something that is so universal.”

Even French president Nicolas Sarkozy has left open the possibility of signalling his discontent over China’s human rights record. He has suggested he might boycott the Olympic opening ceremony depending on how the situation evolves in Tibet.

Activists angry about China’s human rights record and a recent crackdown on Tibet have been protesting along the torch route since the flame embarked on a 85,000-mile journey from Ancient Olympia in Greece to Beijing.

The torch’s round-the-world trip is the longest in Olympic history, and it is meant to shine a spotlight on China’s economic and political power – though activists have seized upon it as a backdrop for their causes.

The torch relay is expected to face demonstrations in Paris, San Francisco, New Delhi and possibly elsewhere on its 21-stop, six-continent tour before arriving in mainland China on May 4.