By Jeffrey Mitchell

PARIS (Hollywood Today) 4/7/08 — Not even for the historic Adolf Hitler and Albert Speir-led 1936 Olympics in Nazi Germany has protest put out the Olympic flame.

Security and Olympic officials snuffed out the Olympic torch for the first time in history and carried it through Paris in the safety of a bus.

Officials put the torch on the bus for the last leg but stopped right outside its destination, a Paris stadium, so a runner could finish the last 15 feet.

Hollywood Today reported earlier that Hollywood’s most famous director Steven Spielberg backed out of his long standing commitments to the Chinese Olympiad for that government’s violations of numerous human rights issues, connected to Darfur, as well as Myanmar (Burma) and the Chinese governments routing of Buddhist monks, forcing their leaders into exile.

The torch will be coming to the U.S. next, more protests are expected.

In Paris Sunday, at least two activists earlier got within almost a foot of the flame before they were nabbed by police. A protester threw water at the torch but failed to extinguish it and was taken away. Officers tackled numerous activists and carried some away.

The chaos started on the Eiffel Tower’s first floor moments after the relay began. Green Party activist Sylvain Garel lunged for the first torchbearer, former hurdler Stephane Diagana, and shouted “Freedom for the Chinese!” Security officials pulled Garel back.

“It is inadmissible that the games are taking place in the world’s biggest prison,” Garel was quoted as remarking.

The procession continued but a crowd of activists waving Tibetan flags soon interrupted it by confronting the torchbearer on a road along the Seine River. The demonstrators did not appear to get within reach of the torch, but its flame was put out by security officers and put on board a bus to continue part way along the route.

Less than thirty minutes later, the flame was being carried out of a traffic tunnel by a woman athlete in a wheelchair when the procession was halted by more activists who booed, jeered and chanted “Tibet.” Once again, the torch was temporarily extinguished and put on a bus for “safety’ concerns according to French Olympic officials.

Other demonstrators scaled the Eiffel Tower and Notre Dame cathedral and hung banners depicting the Olympic rings as handcuffs.

In London the previous day the Olympic torch narrowly escaped it’s flame being extinguished by protesters armed with fire extinguishers.

About 3,000 officers were deployed on motorcycles, in jogging gear and with inline roller skates.

A Paris police official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to media, says at least 28 people have been taken into custody during the protests.

Pro-Tibet advocate Christophe Cunniet said he and around 20 other Tibet advocates were detained after they waved Tibetan flags, threw flyers and tried to block the route. Cunniet said police kicked him, cutting his forehead. “I’m still dazed,” he said
.

“The flame shouldn’t have come to Paris,” said protester Carmen de Santiago, who had “free” painted on one cheek and “Tibet” on the other.

Pro-Chinese activists carrying national flags held counter-demonstrations.

“The Olympic Games are about sports. It’s not fair to turn them into politics,” said Gao Yi, a Chinese second-year doctoral student in Paris in computer sciences.

France’s former sports minister, Jean-Francois Lamour, stressed that, though the torch was put out aboard the bus, the Olympic flame itself still burned in the lantern where it is kept overnight and on airplane flights.

“The torch has been extinguished but the flame is still there,” he told France Info radio.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy has left open the possibility of boycotting the Olympic opening ceremony in Beijing depending on how the situation evolves in Tibet.

Activists have been protesting along the torch route since the flame embarked on its 85,000-mile journey from Ancient Olympia in Greece to Beijing.

The round-the-world trip is the longest in Olympic history, and is meant to highlight China’s political and economic power. Activists have seized on it as a platform for their causes, angering Beijing.

Beijing organizers criticized London’s protesters, saying their actions were a “disgusting” form of sabotage by Tibetan separatists.

“The act of defiance from this small group of people is not popular,” said Sun Weide, a spokesman for the Beijing Olympic organizing committee. “It will definitely be criticized by people who love peace and adore the Olympic spirit. Their attempt is doomed to failure.”

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