Date:16/04/2008 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2008/04/16/stories/2008041660901500.htm

National

27 Tibetan protesters arrested in New Delhi

Staff Reporter

— Photos: AP

As the torch run approaches: Paramilitary forces deployed for the Olympic torch run relax after a briefing in New Delhi on Tuesday.

NEW DELHI: Even as security forces were conducting a full-scale drill for the April 17 Olympic torch relay on Rajpath here, Tibetan activists tried to force their way into the heavily guarded venue of the event on Tuesday.

The police arrested 27 of them, including nine women, on Mansingh Road.

Carrying a torch, the protesters, under the aegis of the Tibetan Youth Congress, tried to take out a “Tibet Independence Torch Relay” on the Vijay Chowk-India Gate stretch.

Tibetan exiles carry the Tibetan Independence Torch Relay on the route of the Olympic torch run in New Delhi.

According to the police, the protesters were intercepted at the Janpath crossing on Mansingh Road and arrested for breach of peace following a brief clash around 3 p.m. The police also put out their torch.

A senior police officer said India Gate would be out of bounds to the general public hours before the commencement of the hour-long event on April 17. “The nitty-gritty of traffic diversions is being finalised keeping in mind the convenience of commuters. Deployment points for the police personnel have already been fixed.”

The security planned for the event was at the level of arrangements for the Republic Day parade.

Parallel run planned

PTI reports:

NDA leader George Fernandes and author Arundhati Roy will join hundreds of Tibetans in a torch relay parallel to the Olympic flame run here on Thursday.

The five-kilometre parallel relay will begin from Rajghat, the memorial of Mahatma Gandhi, and end at Jantar Mantar with the organisers expecting a participation of about 5,000 people.

Apart from Mr. Fernandes and Ms. Roy, senior politicians like Yashwant Sinha, Jaya Jaitley and activists Vandana Shiva and Swami Agnivesh are likely to join the relay, organisers claimed.

“The official relay has little spirit of the Olympics as it is being organised under extreme security. So we decided to live up to the original spirit of the Olympics and organise a parallel run,” Tseten Norbu, spokesperson of the Tibetan Solidarity Committee, organising the protest, told PTI.