Olympic Torch cheered through Beijing amid Tibet protest

0 Comments | AFP, August, 2008

BEIJING (AFP) — Flag-waving crowds cheered the torch relay through Beijing's Tiananmen Square Wednesday as Olympic fever mounted, but a dramatic Tibet protest and a row over Darfur clouded the Games build-up.

Two days before the opening ceremony, tens of thousands of Beijing residents lined the historic square as the torch completed an epic journey across three continents to bring the Olympic flame to the Chinese capital.

Protests dogged the torch's odyssey through Europe, the United States and parts of Asia, while May's huge earthquake in Sichuan province overshadowed the Chinese leg, but there was genuine excitement on the streets of Beijing.

"I feel very excited and very proud because the Olympic Games is a 100-year dream of China's," said 60-year-old...