Olympic torch reaches Acropolis under tight security

Click to enlarge photo

By Karolos Grohmann

ATHENS (Reuters) - The Beijing Olympic flame reached the Athens Acropolis on Saturday under unprecedented security to prevent pro-Tibet activists disrupting the torch relay.

Helicopters hovered overhead as a torch bearer, surrounded by scores of security vehicles and hundreds of police, brought the flame to the Acropolis where it will burn overnight before being handed to Chinese officials on Sunday.

Greek officials changed the flame's route several times during the day - the first time such security measures have been taken since the torch relay tradition was launched for the 1936 Berlin Games.

"The relay route to the Acropolis has already been changed three times today," a Greek official close to the relay told Reuters on condition of anonymity.

Human rights activists and Tibetan demonstrators disrupted the globally televised torch lighting ceremony in ancient Olympia on Monday, breaking a security cordon and unfurling protest banners during the Beijing organising chief's speech.

Further protests marred the start of the relay, with demonstrators lying on the ground in front of vehicles accompanying the torchbearers in Olympia and holding up the runners several times.

Exiled Tibetans and human rights activists, who have vowed to demonstrate in Athens again on Sunday when the flame is officially handed over to Beijing Games organisers (BOCOG), held a silent protest below the Acropolis.

"China must stop hiding behind words and start doing something on Tibet," said Czech activist Stan Sedlacek, 31, who was among about two dozen protesters, some holding lit candles. "Our message is: Keep the blood-stained torch out of Tibet."

The flame will arrive in China on March 31 for the start of a domestic and international relay that will include a crossing of the Nepal-Tibetan border.

HEAVY SECURITY

More than 1,000 police will be on guard during the handover ceremony inside and outside the Panathenian stadium, site of the first modern Olympics in 1896.

The security operation has also triggered the anger of the local foreign press association and the photojournalists' union who said in a statement that their fundamental right to inform was severely curbed by the tight measures.

Chinese forces cracked down on protests in Tibet and parts of western China recently after a wave of anti-government protests highlighted discontent with Communist rule in those areas.

China has ruled Tibet since a 1950 invasion and has blamed Tibet's exiled spiritual leader the Dalai Lama of plotting "terror" ahead of the Aug. 8-24 Olympics.

"We are here to celebrate the Olympic spirit, not to come to a political debate," BOCOG executive vice president Wang Wei told a news conference.

"People have not got the truth. The truth is the turmoil was orchestrated by a small group of people... everything was well timed."

Greek Olympic Committee chief Minos Kyriakou said the protesters represented a very small minority.

"We have gathered here to honour the Olympic spirit and not the demonstration of a super minority," he said. "If a very small minority wants to demonstrate, that is their problem and not the Olympians' problem."

Email this article to your friend -