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Olympic torch reaches Tibetan capital of Lhasa
The Olympic torch wound Saturday through the streets of Tibet's capital Lhasa, the scene of bloody riots in March that helped fuel demonstrations at some of the flame's international stops.
- AP
- Published: 13:43 June 21, 2008
- Tight security accompanied the Olympic flame on its three-hour journey through the historic city of Lhasa.
- Image Credit: AP
Lhasa: The Olympic torch wound Saturday through the streets of Tibet's capital Lhasa, the scene of bloody riots in March that helped fuel demonstrations at some of the flame's international stops.
Tight security accompanied the flame on its three-hour journey through the historic city, a day after officials announced additional sentences over the deadly anti-government rioting.
The roughly 10-kilometre run began at Norbulingka, the Dalai Lama's former summer palace from which the Tibetan Buddhist leader fled into exile in 1959.
It ended at a vast square at the base of the hilltop Potala Palace, the traditional seat of Tibetan rulers.
Hundreds of police and paramilitary troops lined the route at intervals of as little as three metres. Onlookers, who had been carefully screened beforehand, waved flags and chanted "Go China," but the mood overall was far more subdued than at the torch's earlier stops in cities in China proper.
Just under half of the 156 runners were ethnic Tibetan, the official Xinhua News Agency said.
The torch has so far had a smooth run in China, undisturbed by the protests that hounded its appearance in London, Paris, San Francisco and elsewhere.
It next travels to neighbouring Qinghai province, also hit this spring by protests in Tibetan-dominated areas, before gradually winding its way across northern China towards Beijing on August 8.
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