Olympic torch protests continue in Japan

by cynthia yoo | April 25, 2008 at 11:16 pm | 336 views | 2 comments

The Olympic torch relay began relatively calmly in Nagano, Japan but again protests have marred this leg of the relay.

With security tight along the route, one demonstrator tried to seize the torch, before police intervened.

Although there have been two arrests so far, our correspondent reports that there was no serious disruption.

The streets were lined with thousands of Chinese supporters, as well as dozens of protesters.

More than 3,000 police officers were brought in to guard the event after demonstrations had plagued the flame in some other cities on its route.

In a last-minute change, the Nagano leg of the relay began in a parking lot rather than a 1,400-year-old Buddhist temple.

The temple was withdrawn as the starting point after objections over China's crackdown in Tibet.

The start of the relay, with the torch first carried by the manager of Japan's national baseball team, was closed to the public, as were rest stops on the route.

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andrewsjason

at 03:11 on April 26th, 2008

I waited outside the Big Hat, location of the Ice Hockey events in the Nagano 1998 Winter Olympics, about 45 minutes before the torch arrived.
Well before the torch arrived security was high with dozens of police in the area controlling traffic and watching the spectators. Riot police in buses arrived and took up positions along the roads.
There was a group of Chinese across the road from me with huge Chinese flags and in high spirits, even shouting at one point 'we love the Japanese people' in Japanese.
The other people in the crowd though were subdued and waited silently in the rain, I saw no sign of trouble at all. I was expecting to see right-wing groups but they were nowhere to be seen.
The sound of 4 or 5 helicopters flying overhead was a constant all day from about 8:30am until mid-afternoon and gave us an indication where in the city the torch was as they buzzed around above the runner.
The torch passed me at 12:10pm and again the only sound was of the Chinese supporters, everyone else just stared at the bizarre sight of a small woman carrying the torch surrounded by a sizable entourage of police.
It was all over in a few seconds and to me at least did not feel like a celebration of the Olympics. Nor did it feel like any kind of political event, it was just a lot of police and a woman holding a flame.

andrewsjason has contributed a photo to this story.

cynthia yoo

at 03:14 on April 26th, 2008

Andrew, thanks very much for the photos and your posting. Together, they present a real sense of what happened at the relay. I would encourage you to put up your own post of the day's events.