Paris: About 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 threat of protests.
When the torch passed through London on Sunday, police repeatedly scuffled with activists angry about China's human rights record leading up to the Beijing Olympics 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 were also to patrol the Seine River, and a helicopter was to fly over Paris, police said.
About 80 athletes will carry the torch over a 28-kilometer route that starts at the Eiffel Tower, heads down the Champs-Elysées avenue toward City Hall, then crosses over the Seine before ending at the Charlety track and field 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."
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