The torchs journey by foot ended outside the French parliament, where deputies hung a Tibetan flag on a railing. The torch was taken by bus on the final half of its trip to a stadium in the south of the city.

The stop came on a day of drama that saw security officials extinguish the torch four times as protests against Chinas policies on human rights and Tibet turned a relay through Paris into a jarring series of stops and starts.

Midway through the relay, mayor Bertrand Delanoe cancelled a ceremony to mark the torchs passage after Green party members of the city council draped a Tibetan flag and a black banner with the Olympic rings turned into handcuffs over the city halls facade.

Despite massive security, at least two activists got within almost an arms length of the flame before they were grabbed. One threw water but failed to extinguish the torch. Officers tackled many protesters and carried some away.

At the start of the relay at the Eiffel Tower, Green Party activist Sylvain Garel tried to lunge for the first torchbearer, ex-hurdler Stephane Diagana, shouting: Freedom for the Chinese.

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

The relay continued but was stopped four times by activists, forcing officials to put out the flame.

The first occurred along the Seine River soon after the start of the relay; the second less than an hour later when the flame was being carried out of a tunnel by a woman athlete in a wheelchair; the third when security officials, by now wisened to the methods of the protesters, saw some demonstrators ahead; and the fourth time near the Louvre where a protester approached with a fire extinguisher.

Other protesters scaled the Eiffel Tower and hung a banner depicting the Olympic rings as handcuffs.

About 3,000 officers were deployed on motorcycles, in jogging gear and with inline roller skates.

A Paris police official said they made 28 arrests.

Pro-Tibet advocate Christophe Cunniet said he and around 20 other Tibet advocates were detained after they waved Tibetan flags, threw flyers and tried to block the route.

Cunniet said police kicked him, cutting his forehead. "I'm still dazed," he said.

Mireille Ferri, a Green Party official, said she was held by police for two hours because she approached the Eiffel Tower area with a fire extinguisher.

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