Olympic torch lands in Delhi

New Delhi, April 17: The Olympic torch arrived at the New Delhi airport early Thursday amid heavy security because of fears that members of the world's largest community of exiled Tibetans might disrupt its passage through the capital.

The torch, which is en route to China for the Summer Games in Beijing, was carried off a plane by Suresh Kalmadi, the chief of the Indian Olympic Association (IOA).

It was then taken along a route lined with hundreds of police to spend the rest of the night in a luxury hotel.

Police detained about two dozen Tibetan protesters along the route and in front of the hotel. Many were dragged into police vans as they shouted anti-China slogans.

The torch has been beset by protests through Europe and the Americas, mostly over a Chinese crackdown in Tibet. In some places, protesters tried to snuff out the flame and organisers extinguished or hid the torch to keep it safe.

Fearing similar protests, India trimmed the route to a third of the original nine-km distance, restricting it to a high-security stretch used for the annual Republic Day parade in the capital.

Organisers have so far not even said what time Thursday the New Delhi leg of the relay would begin.

Thousands of police and paramilitary officers will line the route, which passes close to the nation's parliament and the offices of federal ministers.

Courtesy:aol.in
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