India gears up for torch, deploys tight security

Thousands of policemen will try to keep the spirited Tibetan protestors away from the Olympic torch relay.

India deployed thousands of police for the Olympic torch relay on Thursday and kept the time of the run a secret because of fears Tibetan protesters might try to disrupt the ceremony.

The protests have forced India to trim the route to a third of the original 9-km (5-mile) distance, restricting it to a high-security stretch used for the annual Republic Day parade in the Indian capital.

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

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The Indian Olympic Association (IOA) defended the security on Wednesday and said it was the country’s responsibility to ensure a smooth ceremony.

“We don’t want the kind of scenes that happened in Paris, definitely not,” IOA chief Suresh Kalmadi told a news conference in New Delhi. “Safety is our responsibility.” The torch was in Pakistan on Wednesday.

Kalmadi said the security cover India was providing the torch was much less than in other countries. “We are not afraid of any movement. We want the torch relay to be safe.”

India has been caught in a swirl of protests by Tibetan exiles since last month’s unrest in Tibet, and despite the Dalai Lama’s support for the Beijing Games, the protesters have vowed to disrupt the flame’s journey in New Delhi.

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Tibetans plan to hold a parallel torch relay on Thursday to protest Chinese action and demand Tibet’s independence.

The Dalai Lama, based in the northern Indian hills, has urged Tibetans to desist from disrupting the torch relay, but protests have continued.

On Wednesday, about 100 Tibetan youth wearing “Save Tibet” bandanas and T-shirts used spray paint to write anti-China slogans on pavements and the road in front of the Chinese embassy in New Delhi, which was barricaded by security officials. Police quickly broke up the protest, dragging about 50 demonstrators into waiting vans.

“We have made good security arrangements,” India’s sports minister, M.S. Gill, told reporters. India had to assure China of adequate security for the torch after the Chinese foreign minister called his Indian counterpart this month. A total of 70 torch-bearers, including 45 current and former athletes, will carry the torch.

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India’s top cricketer Sachin Tendulkar pulled out of the relay on Wednesday for personal reasons, a few days after soccer captain Bhaichung Bhutia pulled out to express solidarity with the Tibetan cause.