April 22, 2008
Torch Relay Continues - Protestors Stymied
The fact that the torch has now become the unofficial symbol of Tibet independence is probably not what the Chinese had in mind when they won the right to host the Olympic games.But that is what the torch has become. And even in Indonesia, where protestors struggled to reach the torch through a massive cordon of police, focus is not on what the torch represents but what China is doing to Tibet and others:The Olympic torch was paraded through a heavily guarded stadium in Jakarta on Tuesday after police stopped about 100 anti-China protesters from disrupting the latest leg of the torch's fraught journey around the world. Indonesian badminton star and Olympic gold medalist Taufik Hidayat lit a cauldron in front of a cheering crowd as about 2,500 policemen and 1,000 military guarded the relay, which has been a magnet for anti-China protests in Europe and the Americas following Beijing's crackdown last month on protests in Tibet. About 80 athletes, officials, and television and film...(Read Full Post)