IOC Allows Disrupted Olympic Torch Relay Event to Go On Despite Protests: Will Reconsider It for Future Olympics

The International Olympic Committee has decided to allow China to continue it's highly disruptive international spectacle with the Olympic torch.

The Torch relay was disrupted in London and Paris, and officials in San Francisco changed the route of the torch to avoid tens of thousands of protesters that awaited it. Additionally, the flame was extinguished three times in Paris, which (supposedly) has never happened before. The flame is on it's way to Argentina, where there's not expected to be much of a protest.

I think the IOC should have canceled the rest of this ridiculous relay as China continues it's crackdown in Tibet and hasn't put any pressure on the Sudanese government to stop the killing in Darfur, which in turn has turned the torch into a political target. It's not supposed to be that way, but China has done nothing to ratchet down the tensions.

Instead, they've sent Chinese military guards (in the blue and white jump suits seen above) to guard the torch and act like the thugs that they are. They're members of the 70-man Beijing Olympic Games "Sacred" Flame Protection unit; their division of the Chinese People's Armed Police are also responsible for the recent crackdown in Tibet. They've gotten into fights along the route with protesters and wore out their welcome in France and in Britain.

Hopefully some of the other nations on the route deny entry to these Chinese military guards as they are an insult to the Olympic spirit which China has been trumpeting about on their torch relay web site. And they continue to debase the word "sacred" while in context to the flame.

The IOC is going to look at future requests from host countries to do similar relays. These relays should be conducted in the host countries alone; they don't have a right to disrupt international cities as the Chinese have done in the last ten days.