the olympic torch and demonstrations happened right outside my apartment. i went to go see, as demonstrations are a major part of parisian life, which i felt i should experience (nobody can demonstrate like (or as often as–seriously every day) parisians.). there were a number of pro-china protestors, which kind of surprised me, though a most of them appeared to be chinese immigrants. i'm not quite sure what the trends of allegiances are in that community. there were a bunch of pro-tibet protestors supported by reporters without borders, with a nice little poster/flag of the olympic rings made of handcuffs. the people demonstrating can be real jerks, too–often one from one group would jump in front of the other and start waving their flag and screaming or whatever. when there was violence, this was usually the cause.the other notable part was the police. i heard on the radio that there were 3000 officers of the national police dedicated to that event. they had riot-proof police vans literally bumper to bumper so you couldn't get through lining the route, plus officers policing this perimeter. people crossing it was the other cause of violence–the police would not hesitate to pick somebody up and toss them back into the crowd. my host brother said he saw one police officer take a tibetan flag from a protestor, then run away at the threat his upset comrades. a number of the police were wearing plastic body armor and were on rollerblades. it was scary and funny at the same time. i actually did see the torch, flanked by about 10 of these guys, plus a few others. apparently they're experienced with demonstrations here. nevertheless, they had to retreat onto the bus eventually as the protestors got the upper hand.
i may make it sound more violent than it actually was, though. by and large, it was just a little tense, but not violent. people didn't really want to go there. at least 30 or so people did end up getting arrested though. so it goes.
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