Protests At Olympic Torch Ceremony

Pro-Tibet demonstrators have disrupted the Olympic torch-lighting ceremony for the 2008 Games.Two protesters ran onto the field at Ancient Olympia while Liu Qi, president of the Games' organising committee, was giving a speech. Both were detained.Lhadon Tethong, director of Students for a Free Tibet, said both men were taken to the local police station."One of our colleagues saw them being dragged by about 20 police through town," he said.When the incident took place, China state TV cut away to a pre-recorded scene, preventing Chinese viewers from seeing what was taking place.Commentators on Chinese TV never mentioned the incidentDespite causing a distraction, protesters failed to derail proceedings entirely. International Olympic Committee chief Jacques Rogge was among the crowd who watched an actress dressed as a high priestess used a convex mirror to light the flame. "I think it's always sad when there are protests, but they were not violent and that's the most important thing," he said afterwards.US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice urged China to speak to the Dalai Lama as part of a "more sustainable policy" for Beijing on Tibet.The demonstrations follow riots against Chinese rule in Tibet and neighbouring provinces.They claimed the lives of 18 civilians and a police officer in Tibet's regional capital, Lhasa, and four other civilians in nearby Sichuan province, according to the government.Exiled Tibetans say as many as 130 died.China is now planning to impose strict security measures as the torch is carried through Tibet to Mount Everest in order to crack down on any protests that could upset the symbolic show of national unity.Sky News' China correspondent Peter Sharp said Chinese Olympic organisers must be worried about having their thunder stolen by the protests following the disruption of the ceremony."The headlines tomorrow will once again will be about Tibet and China's human rights record," he said."I think they're going to have to get used to it, because over the route taken by the torch we could be seeing protests every day."The Chinese government must be bracing itself for an unending focus of very, very damaging publicity in the run-up to the Games."However Liu Weimin, spokesman for the Chinese Embassy in London, told Sky News he was confident the protesters would not disrupt the torch's progress around the world."The situation in Tibet is now under control, so I don't think it will cause difficulties," he said.He insisted that Chinese authorities had exercised restraint and avoided the use of lethal weapons when repressing the protests.He also defended China's human rights record."I think everybody who has been in China can't deny that the Chinese people are enjoying more and more human rights," he added.
China has blamed the unrest on Tibet's exiled spiritual leader, alleging he has conspired to wreck the country's Olympics.The Dalai Lama has rejected the claim, saying he does not oppose the Beijing Games.The torch relay will travel across Greece, ending at the Panathinaiko Stadium, the site of the first modern Olympic Games in 1896.After the handover ceremony in the stadium, the Olympic Flame will arrive in Beijing on March 31 before heading on a round-the-world tour for four months.
http://news.sky.com/skynews/article/0,,30200-1310393,00.html
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