Pro-Tibet protests at Olympic flame handover

Athens, March 30 (DPA) A small group of demonstrators were detained by Greek police Sunday at the official handover of the Olympic flame to Chinese organizers of this summer's Beijing Games in a lavish ceremony at the Panathinaikon Stadium in Athens.

Around 12 people protesting China's crackdown in Tibet were quickly detained after they produced pro-Tibet banners, threw fliers and shouted slogans as the torch relay reached the stadium where the first modern Olympics were held in 1896.

More than 2,000 uniformed and undercover police have been deployed in the Greek capital to secure the official handover of the Olympic flame, which arrived on the ancient Acropolis in Athens Saturday, ending the Greek leg of the torch relay before being flown to China.

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