The Olympic flame arrived in Beijing on Monday to cheering and dancing, a moment of national pride for China but the start of a 130-day journey around the world that looks sure to trigger protests over Tibet. Security was tight as President Hu Jintao lit a cauldron on a red-carpeted rostrum on Tiananmen Square and then handed the flame to Olympic champion high hurdler Liu Xiang, who ran a symbolic first leg of the torch relay. “I declare the start of the torch relay of the Beijing Olympic Games,” said Hu, holding aloft the torch before passing it to Liu. The 130-day relay will cross 19 countries before returning to China for a three-month tour that includes an ascent of Mount Everest. “The century-old dream of the Chinese people to host the Olympic Games has been turned into a reality,” said Xi Jinping, Hu's heir-apparent who is overseeing Olympic preparations. “The torch relay will pull together the strength of the whole nation in making every effort to stage a unique and well-run Olympic Games and promote national development, social progress and people's well-being.” But what was envisioned as a “Journey of Harmony” that would illustrate unity ahead of the Aug. 8 opening of the Games looks instead like becoming a lightning rod for protests. At last week's flame-lighting ceremony in Greece activists unfurled banners condemning China's rights record, and on Sunday a small group of protesters tried to block the flame's handover to Beijing officials. There was no direct mention of the protests on Monday as Xi and Games chief Liu Qi littered their short speeches with the phrase “peace and friendship”. “We believe that with the joint efforts of the torch relay cities, and all parties concerned, the Beijing 2008 torch relay ... will achieve full success,” Liu said. The flame, encased in a lantern, was escorted off a charter plane from Greece on Monday and brought to Tiananmen Square, the focus of democracy protests that were crushed in 1989. Police and plainclothes security lined streets cordoned off with yellow tape and the ceremony passed without disruption in the square, overlooked by a giant portrait of Mao Zedong, father of Communist China. The square was decked out in a red carpet, with rows of ethnic dancers, including Tibetans, and brightly dressed students, workers and other supporters waving pompoms and flags. The scenes mark a contrast from the mood overseas, where exiled Tibetans and human rights activists have targeted the Olympics since China poured security forces into Tibet and parts of western China to suppress anti-government protests. Some have called for a Games boycott. The international leg of the relay starts when the flame heads for Kazakhstan on Tuesday. It returns to Beijing on Aug. 6 after traveling throughout China, two days before it is used to light the cauldron at the Olympic opening ceremony. __
