PARIS - Security officials canceled the final run of the Olympic relay through Paris after chaotic protests Monday, sending a snuffed-out torch to its destination on a bus in a humiliating concession to protesters decrying China's human rights record.

The bus stopped right outside the final stop, a stadium, so a runner could finish the last 15 feet of the relay.

At least two activists got within almost an arm's length of the flame earlier in the day before they were grabbed by police.

Another protester threw water at the torch but failed to put it out before being taken away. Worried officials extinguished the torch and carried aboard the bus five times before the final cancellation.

The chaos started on the Eiffel Tower's first floor moments after the relay began. Green Party activist Sylvain Garel lunged for the first torchbearer, former hurdler Stephane Diagana, and shouted "Freedom for the Chinese!" Security officials pulled Garel back.

"It is inadmissible that the games are taking place in the world's biggest prison," Garel said later.

The procession continued but a crowd of activists waving Tibetan flags soon interrupted it by confronting the torchbearer on a road along the Seine River. The demonstrators did not appear to get within reach of the torch, but its flame was put out by....READ MORE

Protests follow Olympic torch through Europe

AP

YAHOO News