New Delhi, April 17: The troubled Olympic torch was flown in from Islamabad at the Palam Technical Area in the wee hours of the morning on April 17.
At around 1:00am, just minutes before the torch passed through on its way to Le Meridian Hotel in New Delhi, around 32 activists from the Tibetan Youth Congress’ various regional chapters blocked traffic on the designated route near the Army Research and Referral Hospital near Dhaula Kuan in South West Delhi.
The protestors were quickly arrested by the police and were taken to custody.
Later around 3:30am, a second batch of around 30 Tibetan activists and Indian supporters assembled outside the Le Meridian hotel near Rajpath, where the Olympic torch is supposedly kept, and began to shout anti-China slogans.
Notwithstanding the threats from the police, activists raised anti-China slogans calling the flame ‘The torch of shame’. Protestors, shouting ‘Justice for Tibet’ and ‘We want Freedom’, even tried to break through the security cordon on the road before being taken away by the police.
The pre-dawn protest foreshadowed what could be later expected when the 2.5km or so torch run, considerably cut short fearing security risks, begins at 4:00pm today.
Three Tibetans and an Indian supporter were apprehended by the law enforcement with the rest managing to escape the arrest.
Protests are expected to dog the New Delhi leg of torch relay as Tibetans and supporters escalate pressure on the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to withdraw China’s planned torch relay through Tibet.
The torch, 72-centimetres long and weighing 985 grams, was flown into New Delhi in a specially designed flight from Islamabad, its last stop before India.
“As an Indian, I reject China’s propaganda torch relay and stand in solidarity with Tibetans who continue to suffer under China’s brutal occupation. I call on the International Olympic Committee to immediately withdraw all Tibetan areas from the torch relay route.,” Shibayan Raha, spokesperson for Students for a Free Tibet, said before he was arrested by police after he displayed a Tibetan flag and called for ‘No Torch in Tibet’.
“We will not stand and clap as China carries the Olympic torch, now a symbol of oppression, to India Gate and Rajpath, important symbols of India’s freedom dedicated to the lives of our nation’s martyrs,” Shibayan protested.
Among the torchbearers, four have already dropped out of today’s relay citing concerns about the Chinese oppressions and other personal reasons.
A 1000 or more Tibetans from all over the country and their supporters also kicked off a rival torch relay in New Delhi today, starting at 11am at Sathya Sthal, hours before the Olympic torch relay was set to take place. The mass relay, calling on the Chinese Government to immediately halt its crackdown in Tibet, will end at Jantar Mantar.
Meanwhile, Indian authorities have mobilized over ten thousand police to secure the route of the torch through the Capital.
Tibetan activists warn that the planned controversial torch relay through Tibet will only provoke more tensions and further bloody crackdown by Chinese authorities.
Tibetan exiles and supporters around the world have repeatedly called on the International Olympic Committee to withdraw all Tibetan areas from the torch relay route.
“Reports of religious repression, torture, and mass detention throughout Tibet continue as Tibetans persistently speak out in the face of extreme domination at the hands of the Chinese authorities,” said Tenzin Choeying, National Director of Students for a Free Tibet – India. “The International Olympics Committee must immediately withdraw Tibet from the Torch Relay route or risk aggravating the extremely tense situation in Tibet and be responsible for further deaths and repression when the torch goes through Tibet next month,” he said.
The Tibetan Government-in-exile, based in the northern Indian town of Dharamsala, said around 156 Tibetans have been killed so far as China resorted to violent crackdown on Tibetan demonstrators all over Tibet.
The 33 members of TYC’s regional chapters of Manali, Dharamsala, Shimla, Nainital, Mainpat and Darjeeling who were arrested after scaling the Chinese Embassy walls on March 22 and still under police detention in Tihar Jail have refused bail and are said to be staging a peaceful protest strike within the prison compounds.
“There are around 150 pro-Tibet activists in judicial custody at the moment,” Dhondup Dorjee, Vice President of the TYC told Phayul.com.
In Dharamsala, hundreds of Tibetans and supporters began a massive rally protesting China’s alleged atrocities in Tibet and, urging Indian Government and its people to support Tibetan cause.
