Olympic torch re-lit in Beijing

2008-03-31 07:27

Beijing - Chinese President Hu Jintao presided over the re-lighting of the Olympic torch on Monday in the host city Beijing, signalling the start of a round-the-world torch relay that already has become a magnet for human rights protesters.

Hu's participation in the elaborate ceremony in Tiananmen Square in the heart of the capital underlined the importance that China places on the Olympics and its hopes to display a confident, strong nation to the world when the Games open on August 8.

The ceremony 130 days before the start of the Olympics was broadcast on state television, and comes a week after the lighting ceremony for the Olympic torch in Greece was marred by protests.

"I declare the torch relay of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games begun," Hu said after handing the flame off to China's Olympic and world champion hurdler, Liu Xiang. Liu jogged off the square as confetti flew, Chinese and Olympic flags waved and traditional drums pounded.

After a one-day stop in Beijing, the flame goes on Tuesday to Almaty, Kazakhstan, the start of a month-long 20-country, 137 000km global journey.

Protests

The grandiose relay is the longest in Olympic history and has the most torchbearers - a sign of the vast attention lavished on the games by Beijing, which hopes to use it to showcase China's rising economic and political power.

Instead, however, it has provided a stage for human rights activists who have been criticising China over a range of issues including its handling of Muslims in the far west of the country, its control over Tibet and its relationship with Sudan.

Tibetan and rights groups have said they will stage protests along the torch route, which includes stops in London, Paris and San Francisco over the next 10 days.

The relay has especially focused attention on recent unrest in Tibet, the worst in the Chinese-controlled region since 1989.

Tight security

The flame arrived from Greece early on Monday aboard a chartered Air China plane, greeted at Beijing airport by hundreds of flag-waving schoolchildren.

Amid tight security, police and paramilitary officers were stationed on overpasses, bridges and entry ramps along the flame's route into the city. Two subway stations at Tiananmen Square were closed and dozens of police guarded other subway stops. Police also closed the square to vehicles, and pedestrians and bicyclists were kept at one block away.

- AP