Olympic torchbearer knocked down

A 19-year-old protester is facing assault charges after an Olympic torchbearer was knocked to the ground Monday morning in Guelph, Ont.

Cortney Hansen, 28, was carrying the torch on Wyndham Street at about 7:50 a.m. when a group of protesters approached the Olympic Torch Run procession.

Police said Hansen was knocked to the ground but the torch was not extinguished in the fall. Hansen was treated bytorch run medical staffandcontinued her leg of the torch relay.

Police said about 1,000 people were watching the torch procession when the incident occurred.

Brittney Simpson of Kitchener, Ont., has been charged with assault and will appear in court in February, police said.

The torch relay will have covered 45,000 kilometres over 106 days before ending in Vancouver on Feb. 12, the opening day of the 2010 Winter Games.

Protests have greeted the torch at many events along the way. When the torch passed through Toronto, organizers were forced to delay the procession and take a different route to Toronto's city centre after protesters rallied against the Games.