Path of Olympic Torchbearer Briefly Blocked

Filed in archive Olympics on March 24, 2008

With the 2008 Beijing Olympics around the corner, protesters from the freedom group Reporters Without Borders disrupted the flame-lighting ceremony. The group is protesting the Tibet crackdown. A protesters covered herself in fake blood and blocked the path of a torchbearer. No one was injured.

Protesters ran onto the stadium field during the ceremony, evading massive security aimed at preventing such disruptions in the wake of China's crackdown on Tibet.

One man ran behind Liu Qi, president of the Beijing organizing committee and Beijing Communist Party Secretary, as Liu was giving a speech. The protester unfurled a black banner showing the Olympic rings as handcuffs.

Three protesters from the Paris-based press freedom group Reporters Without Borders who were detained.

"If the Olympic flame is sacred, human rights are even more so," the Paris-based group said in a statement. "We cannot let the Chinese government seize the Olympic flame, a symbol of peace, without denouncing the dramatic situation of human rights in the country."