Olympic flame arrives in Beijing

BEIJING-The Olympic flame arrived in Beijing on Monday ahead of the official start of the relay, with security tight at the Chinese capital's airport amid concerns over protests.A specially chartered Air China plane from Greece touched down shortly before 9:00 am (0100 GMT), with the event broadcast on national television with a slight delay.The chief of China's Olympic organising committee, Liu Qi, walked off the plane carrying the flame and on to red carpet laid out on the tarmac.He was greeted by Zhou Yongkang, a member of China's elite Communist Party politburo who is in charge of the nation's security.The flame will make its way to Tiananmen Square, the political heart of Beijing, for a welcoming ceremony later on Monday morning.The torch relay officially starts on Tuesday in Beijing when the sacred flame is scheduled to depart for Almaty.The Kazakh capital is the first stop on an odyssey through 19 countries during April that is followed by an epic three-month tour around China.However the crisis in Tibet, China's human rights records and other sensitive issues are threatening to take the Olympic shine off the torch relay.Activist groups had already launched a number of protests in Greece during the official lighting of the torch in Olympia and the subsequent carrying of the flame to the Athens airport.Reporters at the Beijing airport on Monday reported extremely tight and highly visible security.Greece handed over the Olympic torch to the organisers of the Beijing Games on Sunday in a tightly guarded Athens ceremony, after police quickly arrested anti-Chinese protesters shouting "Save Tibet".About a dozen demonstrators who also tried to unfurl a banner were taken into custody at the entrance to the all-marble Panathinaiko Stadium, where the first modern Olympics were held in 1896.The protesters, from the New York-based Students for a Free Tibet included eight Tibetans, one Nepalese, a Czech and two Greek nationals, the group said.Police also arrested three members of the Falungong spiritual movement, which is outlawed in China, when they attempted to enter the stadium.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20080331/ts_afp/oly2008chntorchchinaarrive_080331013002
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