International Herald Tribune
Tibet protesters unfurl banners in northern Greek city ahead of Olympic torch relay arrival
The Associated Press
Thursday, March 27, 2008
THESSALONIKI, Greece: Several pro-Tibetan protesters unfurled banners in a central square of Thessaloniki shortly before the Olympic torch relay arrived in the city on Thursday.
About a dozen protesters, most of them Greeks, gathered in the square in this northern Greek city about one kilometer (half a mile) away from the route of the torch for the Beijing Olympics. They were being watched by about 50 police.
The banners read: "China is not worthy of the flame," and "China stop killing Tibet." The protesters were wearing T-shirts with 'Free Tibet' written across the front.
The flame arrived in Thessaloniki later, during the torch relay, without any problems. Hundreds of people turned out in the port city's central Aristotelous square, where the Olympic flame was to spend the night before heading south on Friday.
Police said they briefly detained two Falun Gong members who tried to unfurl a banner in Aristotelous Square shortly before the flame arrived. It was unclear what was on the banner. The two were taken to a nearby police station but released less than half an hour later, after the torch relay arrival.
Thursday's demonstration occurred after two separate protests disrupted the flame lighting ceremony on Monday at Ancient Olympia — by a group of French reporters and pro-Tibetan protesters — despite the deployment of 1,000 police officers at the ancient site.
Police are bracing for possible protests in Athens where the torch relay is due at the weekend, before it is flown to China.
The flame will spend Saturday night at the Acropolis and be handed over to Chinese organizers Sunday at the Panathenian Stadium, where the first modern Olympics were held in 1896.
Protesters are angry at China's handling of deadly riots in Tibet earlier this month and want the torch route to be changed to exclude Tibet.
Notes:
International Herald Tribune Copyright © 2008 The International Herald Tribune | www.iht.com
(photo: REUTERS/Mike Segar)
Skopelos and Virgin
-by Skorda
when first you see it
across the water,
rising round and new above the mountain.
Open your mouth and swallow
while youth holds its roundness near,
and you are running fearless in the dark.
Hold it inside, it is still warm
and you will need its light,
there, inside you.
Down the road of time, somewhere
after you’ve aged, traveled,
Explored, discovered.
And the dust around your doorway
has been pounded hard and smooth under your feet.
When you find yourself growing weary and bored,
when your eyes see only ruins,
and your heart is empty.
You may believe, in your exhaustion,
that this is truth, at last.
That the mystery has unraveled,
leaving no wilderness to explore or tame.
All secrets have been shared,
the frontier has dissolved.
Know then, with these thoughts,
you have been swallowed.
The warm belly of the beast
comforts with confining darkness
and lulls with rhythmic sounds
Murmuring to you,
Curl up and sleep,
just go to sleep.
Shake your head,
stretch your legs,
do not sleep now.
Remember what you know.
You swallowed the moon,
you hold it inside you.
Not as a magpie hoarding shiny things,
or wearing the moon for beauty
or bartering the moon for wealth.
You swallowed the moon for this moment.
When you will walk to the water’s edge,
open your mouth, release the moon
and let its light build you a pathway
across the wine dark sea.
©Skorda 2008
Thursday, March 27, 2008
Olympic protest continues
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
ERASE FETISH
No comments:
Post a Comment