We’re a few weeks away from the Rio Olympics, and while the city is preparing -- and I use that word lightly, given what a mess it’s been so far — for the Games to begin, the torch relay is still chugging through Brazil. On Thursday, as the torch was going through the city of Joinville, a spectator tried to put out the flame with a fire extinguisher. The man was then apprehended by security, while the runner made their way to a new person to hand the flame. No humans or flames were harmed.
This is not the first time someone in Brazil’s tried to take out the torch. In June, a man with a bucket of water threw it at a runner in Maracaju, which, he told police, was done on a dare.
Usually, attempts to take out or mock the flame are done as a form of protest — aside from that Maracaju man — and it’s currently unknown whether the Joinville incident was the man protesting the Games, but given the state of things in Rio, it wouldn’t be surprising.
(h/t Huffington Post)