News :: GLBT
London Gay Equality Advocate Involved in Olympic Torch Fracasby Kilian MelloyMonday Apr 7, 2008 Gay equality and human rights activist Peter Tatchell was among protestors who disrupted the carrying of the Olympic Torch across London to draw attention to human rights issues in Tibet.
The Apr. 6 procession involved the participation of 80 torch bearers who carried the burning torch for 31 miles, starting at Wembley Stadium and ending at Greenwich, with the route proceeding over land and water, reported the British newspaper The Independent in a story that same day.
The Independent reported that activists formed small groups and disrupted the torch’s progress at several points along the way, including at the British Museum and on Downing Street, where the Prime Minister’s office is located. The newspaper reported that activists evidently were attempting to take the torch or put it out.
At its Downing Street stop, Prime Minister Gordon Brown and a crowd made up people who had been pre-approved to attend gathered. Outside protective gates, police and activists clashed and pro-Chinese counter-demonstrators played drums, reported the newspaper.
Activists protested persecution by the Chinese of advocates for Tibetan independence, as well as China’s persecution of practitioners of Falun Gong.
Prime Minister Gordon Brown greeted the torch behind Downing Street’s closed steel gates in front of a vetted crowd as protesters scuffled with police outside and Beijing supporters waved Chinese flags and banged drums.
Two arrests were made during the day.
Tatchell, a co-founder of the British GLBT equality group OutRage! and a former candidate for the Labour party, has oraginzed other high-profile protests, such as his confrontation in Westminster’s Central Hall with Robert Mugabe in 1997 over Mugabe’s comments about homosexuality made in 1995. Mugabe also led protests outside the London location of the Zimbabwe high Commission.
More recently, Tatchell has been a Greren Party candidate and involved in anti-war demonstrations protesting the occupation of Iraq, as well as an advocate for GLBT equality.
Kilian Melloy reviews media, conducts interviews, and writes commentary for EDGEBoston, where he also serves as Assistant Arts Editor.
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