http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2008/04/22/asia/AS-GEN-OLY-Torch-Flickering-F=
lame.php
Olympic torch relay staggers through Asia; relegated to parking lot
send-off in Japan
The Associated PressPublished: April 22, 2008
TOKYO: It was supposed to start with a gala send-off at one of Japan's
most venerable and majestic Buddhist temples, the 1,400-year-old
Zenkoji.
Instead, the Beijing Olympic torch will make its Japan debut in a
parking lot. If you want a good view, now's the time to join the riot
police.
As they have at most of the torch's stops so far, police will likely
have all the front-row seats.
Mounting problems with the Japan leg of the relay =97 scheduled for
Saturday =97 are just the latest in a string of embarrassments for
Beijing, which had hoped the journey of its torch worldwide would be a
showcase of solidarity and sup****t for its games, which begin in
August.
Following China's crackdown after anti-government riots and protests
in Tibetan areas in March, that hope has sputtered badly.
Protests or extremely tight security have marred the torch on
virtually every stop it has made, including emotional scuffles in
London and Paris, a massive detour in San Francisco and orders for
police in Nepal to shoot if necessary when the torch makes its way up
the Himalayan mountains.
The torch's run through India, adopted home of the Dalai Lama, the
exiled Tibetan spiritual leader, was whittled down to a virtual sprint
under a 15,000-strong police presence through a tightly guarded
government sector in New Delhi. In Malaysia, police quickly shut down
a protest by three Japanese, who unfurled the Tibetan flag and yelled
"Free Tibet" before getting roughed up by Chinese sup****ters of the
games.
The torch flared up again on Tuesday.
Water cannons and 5,500 officers were deployed around the main s****ts
stadium in Jakarta, Indonesia, where a torch parade was held before a
small, invitation-only crowd, said deputy police chief Herri Wibowo.
Eighty torchbearers were to run around the stadium about five times,
instead of parading through the streets of Jakarta as originally
planned.
Police detained at least eight people and seized flags from pro-Tibet
activists during a rowdy demonstration ahead of the parade.
More problems were expected in Australia, the torch's next stop.
Organizers of the Australian leg said Monday the route there had been
shortened by four kilometers (2.5 miles) to avoid some central, narrow
streets.
Torch relay organizer Ted Quinlan predicted several protest "hot
spots" and said the route could be changed if protests got out of
control.
"We have to have our contingency arrangements, at least in our heads,
and ready for everybody to adopt should it become necessary," Quinlan
told Sky News television.
Hundreds of police will guard the torch when runners take it through
Canberra on Thursday. Security officials have erected metal barricades
along the 16-kilometer (10-mile) route.
Protests were already revving up in Japan.
The often harassed and rerouted torch relay was to hit the streets
Saturday in the mountainous city of Nagano in central Japan that
hosted the 1998 Winter Games.
But well before the flame's arrival, it was causing quite a stir.
Last week, officials at Zenkoji, which was often showcased during the
Nagano Games, said they would not make good on their promises to host
the start of the relay event, citing security concerns and unease
among its monks and sup****ters over China's treatment of their fellow
Buddhists in Tibet.
Adding insult to injury, Zenkoji announced Tuesday it will co-host a
prayer ritual for Tibet on the morning of the relay.
Tsering Dorjee, who was born in India as the son of Tibetan exiles,
said the event is to pray for peace.
"We want to mourn for all the people who died in Tibet and pray for
peace," Dorjee said in a statement published on his group's Web site
Tuesday. "We are not opposing the Beijing Olympics. We are not
opposing the torch relay, nor do we intend to sabotage the event."
Zenkoji's sudden about-face forced organizers to conduct a last-minute
search for an alternate site. On such short notice, they found only a
vacant lot, but said they were satisfied because it is spacious enough
to fit a good-sized crowd and close enough to mean no major changes in
the relay route would be required.
Several thousand police will be mobilized to secure the relay,
according to local re****ts. Japan has refused entry to a Chinese
security squad that has followed the flame elsewhere.
After Nagano, the torch goes on to Seoul, South Korea, then a possible
breather in the North Korean capital of Pyongyang.
Pyongyang is tightly controlled even when there are no special events
going on, and protests were unlikely.
The torch arrives in Hong Kong on May 2.
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