BOCOG VP Jiang Xiaoyu receives the first torch. (Getty Images)(ATR) The Olympic torch travels in New Delhi without disturbance as security forces turn the Rajpath boulevard into a high-security zone.
Some 15,000 Indian security officers plus the Chinese torch entourage kept pedestrians, traffic and the public off the colonial-era thoroughfare.
BOCOG VP Jiang Xiaoyu lit the first torch at the presidential palace and passed it to Delhi chief executive Sheila Dikshit. She passed it to Indian Olympic Association president Suresh Kalmadi who handed it to the first runner, sprinter and Olympian Milkha Singh.
The 2.3 km relay was split among 70 runners. Olympic tennis bronze medalist Leander Paes and Paralympic weightlifting bronze medalst Rajinder Singh Rahelu each carried the torch, as did Bollywood stars Aamir Khan and Saif Ali Khan. A day ahead of the relay, three bearers announced their withdrawal, though none cited political reasons. The normally busy Rajpath was cleared and sealed for the torch relay. (Getty Images)
Tibet partisans began protesting the torch almost as soon as it touched down in the city. Some two dozen Tibetan exiles demonstrated near the torch accommodation as the delegation arrived. Most were detained, according to media reports.
Ahead of the relay, Tibet activists attempted to breach the Rajpath security cordon in several places, where they were stopped and dragged off by police.
Officers detained as many as 180 people, according to a police official quoted by AFP.
Speaking in the lower house of India's parliament, opposition Bharatiya Janata Party leader V. K. Malhotra compared the city on torch day to a "cantonment".
Some nine km from Rajpath, Tibetan Buddhist monks, laymen and other supporters staged a parallel protest torch relay, which finished without major incident.
In Mumbai, several pro-Tibet demonstrators attempted to storm the Chinese consulate. The thirty or so activists were detained by police.
The torch next travels to Bangkok for an April 19 relay.
Torch Relay Briefs…
In Beijing, the foreign ministry made a statement to Japan about the personnel who will protect the torch.
Spokeswoman Jiang Yu asked the "relevant country" to understand and assist coordination of the torch relay with its Chinese security entourage. She made the statement in response to a question about the April 26 Nagano leg of the relay. Japanese security officials have rejected the presence of Chinese security guards, according to media reports.
The Australian Olympic Committee releases a partial schedule of the April 24 Canberra leg of the torch relay, but final details are still pending from the The Canberra torch relay, on the eve of ANZAC Day, will likely reach the Australian War Memorial. government.
The torch arrives in Canberra on April 23 for an 8:35 a.m. airport ceremony. It will be followed by a noon press conference in the city to include torchbearers Ian Thorpe and Ron Clarke along with AOC president John Coates, Australian Capital Territory chief minister Jon Stanhope and police chief Mike Phelan. AOC asks that media consider attendance at the conference compulsory.
The next day, the torch relay begins with indigenous leader Tania Major at 8:30 a.m. and wraps up with Ian Thorpe by noon. The route starts from Reconciliation Place and ends with a celebration at Stage 88 Commonwealth Park.
The ACT government will determine the final route for the 80 torchbearers, according to an AOC announcement.
A blacktop road partway up Mount Everest is ready for Olympic torchbearers, according to Xinhua.
The 108 km road has been paved and widened over 10 months. Mountain climbers will bring the Olympic flame to the top of the peak on a date to be determined by the weather.
Homepage photo by Getty Images
Written by Maggie Lee
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