April 06, 2008
Olympic flame whizzes past
Hundreds of people gathered around St Paul's Cathedral today before the Olympic Flame made its way down Fleet St to St Paul's Churchyard.
There were all sorts of people here: children welcoming the flame, peaceful pro-Tibet protesters here to voice their anger with China's hold over Tibet, families, tourists and Chinese students waving Chinese flags. There was music from the Scots Guards and random religious clergy.
But whatever the reason for being there, the flame unfortunately didn't make it off the bus and to St Paul's after all. Police decided to shove the flame on a double decker bus (after dallying about for 15 minutes) and whiz it past everyone as they apparently thought it safer.
I didn't see any immediate cause for concern from the protesters, who even had floats. The Chinese students next to me were tentatively/coyly saying "China... China!" in response to the "Free Tibet" chants across the road, but not in an aggressive way.
Very underwhelming. Here are a few random photos. In the first widescreen shot you can see in the middle background the Tibetan flag. The bus is holding the flame.
