HELBI

The obstacle course that is the Olympic Torch relay to Beijing for the Olympic Games in August continued this past week with the torch, supposedly a symbol of peace and cooperation between nations, the Olympic Spirit, coming under attack from pro-Tibetan activists. Every thinking person would like to see the Dalai Lama back home again, but not this disrespect for the Olympic Torch, a symbol of peace. After one protester wielded a fire extinguisher in Paris – stopped at the last minute by police – other capitals took extra security measures. In San Francisco, California, things went smoothly after the organizers suddenly switched the relay course and surrounded the torchbearers with police wielding batons, and other guards, against demonstrators waiting to protest against Chinese policy in Tibet. Now it is the turn of Buenos Aires, the next landfall for the flame. No one expects the torchbearers to dance the tango with demonstrators; thousands of police have been put on the alert. Activists have announced that they will be staging surprise protests but peacefully and do not want to extinguish the flame. Diego Maradona has been invited to begin the relay there.