[Archive 2008-03-25] Olympic flame for Beijing Games lit amidst protest

Historical archive — originally published 2008-03-25. This report records what was known on that date. It is not current news; subsequent events may have changed the situation. Wikinews closed in May 2026.

On Monday, the Olympic torch for the 2008 Summer Olympics was lit in Olympia, Greece as per tradition. The Games of the XXIX Olympiad are scheduled to be held in and around Beijing, China from August 8, 2008, to August 24, 2008.

Members of Reporters Without Borders (RSF), and others, were able to break through the police cordon. "We cannot let the Chinese government seize the Olympic flame, a symbol of peace, without denouncing the dramatic human rights situation in the country," RSF said in a statement.

While Liu Qi, president of the Beijing Organizing Committee and a former mayor of Beijing, delivered a speech, at least one protester was able to run up behind him and display a flag that resembled the Olympic flag, except it was black and the rings were handcuffs.

The protester was quickly apprehended and Liu Qi continued his speech relatively uninterrupted. "The Olympic flame will radiate light and happiness, peace and friendship, and hope and dreams to the people of China and the whole world," he told the crowd.

The torch is still scheduled to be carried around the world in a relay that will go through twenty countries before arriving in Beijing for the start of the Games.

Germany's Olympic Committee rejected a boycott of the games aimed at events in Tibet. Noting that the 1980 Summer Olympics boycott did not avert the Soviet war in Afghanistan, the president of the committee said they concluded that the role of sports is to start dialog and promote understanding — and not to exert political pressure.

Source and licence

Text adapted from Olympic flame for Beijing Games lit amidst protest by Wikinews contributors under CC BY 2.5. Paragraphs have been selected and abridged, and formatting adjusted. Contributor history.