The Olympic torch relay concluded its run in New Delhi on Thursday without any disruptions from Tibetan activists as authorities in the Indian capital mounted unprecedented security measures and detained scores of exiles to quell the protests, according to dpa. The short relay of 2.6 kilometres which began at India's Presidential Palace and ended at the India Gate was guarded by 15,000 policemen and paramilitary personnel and took approximately 40 minutes to complete. Indian sportspersons and personalities escorted by commandos from the Delhi Police and Chinese security teams, hastily passed the torch to each other in the run that was shortened from the original 9 kilometres owing to security concerns. More than 65 torch-bearers, including former Indian hockey captain Zafar Iqbal, tennis player Leander Paes, athlete Anju Bobby George and film-stars Aamir Khan and Saif Ali Khan as well as some Chinese runners participated in the relay. Nervous Indian security agencies had mounted unprecedented security measures and practically shut down the area in the heart of New Delhi to prevent Tibetan demonstrators from disrupting the relay. The entry to the torch-run was closed to the general public and only participating schoolchildren and special invitees of the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) were allowed at the venue. Besides the huge contingent of police and security personnel as well as surveillance helicopters guarding the relay stretch, multi- layered security was deployed to prevent any protestors infiltrating the area. The Olympic flame was taken to Delhi's international airport shortly after the relay and was scheduled to leave for Bangkok later on Thursday night. India left no stone unturned to live up to its assurance to Beijing that it would ensure "fool-proof security" for the Olympic flame as it is keen to mend relations with its giant Asian neighbour following years of hostility dating back to a 1962 border war. China, which was upset about last month's Tibetan protests in India, had earlier conveyed its concerns about the India leg of the torch run to the Indian establishment. But thousands of exiled Tibetans staged demonstrations and organized a parallel torch run in the Indian capital condemning the Beijing Olympic flame as that of "shame and bloodshed" to protest against Chinese "atrocities" in their homeland. Tibetan refugee groups in India have been holding protests leading up to the torch relay and the Beijing Olympics, saying they want to use the occasion to draw international attention to China's human rights violations in Tibet. The India leg of the torch relay was considered one of the most sensitive, as the country is home to about 100,000 Tibetan refugees, estimated to be the largest concentration of Tibetans outside Tibet. Police told the PTI news agency that more than 165 Tibetans were detained in New Delhi and Mumbai after the Olympic flame landed in the Indian capital from Islamabad early on Thursday morning. Of these 120 were arrested in Delhi - 90 of them in the vicinity of the torch relay route including 50 from the Le Meridien hotel where the torch was kept. Groups of Tibetans holding Tibetan flags and shouting anti-China slogans had tried to barge into the hotel but were stopped and whisked away to the local police station. In the Jantar Mantar area in the heart of Delhi, Tibetan monks held prayers holding placards reading: "China Stop Killing in Tibet" and "Release Panchen Lama." Elsewhere, 45 Tibetans were held in the western city of Mumbai before they tried to hold a protest rally near the Chinese consulate, the report said. "Olympics stand for peace and harmony. But there's no harmony in China," said Tenzin Choeying, the head of Students for Free Tibet, India chapter. "China does not deserve this torch". More than 5,000 Tibetan exiles and locals participated in a march in the Indian Himalayan region of Ladakh that borders Tibet. In the eastern town of Siliguri, 30 Tibetans went on a hunger- strike in protest against China's crackdown on the Tibetan unrest. Tibetans were also holding protests in India's southern cities of Bangalore and Chennai. Local media reported that India's ace shooter Jaspal Rana and musician Ayaan Ali Khan had pulled out of the torch relay, citing personal reasons. Four other Indian personalities, including Indian football captain Baichung Bhutia, cricketer Sachin Tendulkar, former police official Kiran Bedi and film star Soha Ali Khan, had already withdrawn from the relay for various reasons.
