ID :
15148
Wed, 08/06/2008 - 19:13
Auther :
Shortlink :
https://oananews.org//node/15148
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Olympic torch relay under way in Beijing amid tight security
BEIJING, Aug. 6 Kyodo - The Olympic torch began its final leg of the global tour on Wednesday, as a relay through the Chinese capital got under way amid tight security two days ahead of the opening ceremony of the Summer Games.
Basketball icon Yao Ming and China's first astronaut Yang Liwei were among those who carried the Olympic flame, as a total of about 50,000 policemen and security personnel were deployed at Tiananmen Square and elsewhere along the relay's route.
Thousands of citizens waved little Chinese flags at the square, a political symbol at the center of Beijing, where the torch relay kicked off.
''Beijing welcomes you. I wish for success of the Beijing Olympic torch relay,'' Beijing Mayor Guo Jinlong said at a ceremony at the square.
A total of 841 torchbearers will carry the Olympic flame, which has traveled six continents in 129 days, through the Chinese capital.
Yang, who became the first Chinese to go into space in 2003, was the first torchbearer. Yao, who plays for the U.S. National Basketball Association's Houston Rockets, was the ninth to carry the flame.
Security was tight, and state-run media reported that four foreigners were taken away by police in the morning after displaying banners calling for freedom for Tibet near the National Stadium, where Olympic events will take place.
A statement from New York-based Students for a Free Tibet said later that the three men and one woman were from Britain and the United States.
The four displayed a banner with the message, ''One World, One Dream: Free Tibet,'' and another that read ''Tibet Will Be Free,'' according to the group.
China's treatment of Tibet is one of the issues that critics have highlighted in the run-up to the Summer Games, especially after violence erupted in the region in March.
But for ordinary Beijing citizens, the torch relay was a reason for celebration.
''I am so excited,'' said Dong Huahua, a 20-year-old figure skating instructor who watched the torch relay from a Beijing street. ''I fought for a spot to take a good look at the torch.''
Basketball icon Yao Ming and China's first astronaut Yang Liwei were among those who carried the Olympic flame, as a total of about 50,000 policemen and security personnel were deployed at Tiananmen Square and elsewhere along the relay's route.
Thousands of citizens waved little Chinese flags at the square, a political symbol at the center of Beijing, where the torch relay kicked off.
''Beijing welcomes you. I wish for success of the Beijing Olympic torch relay,'' Beijing Mayor Guo Jinlong said at a ceremony at the square.
A total of 841 torchbearers will carry the Olympic flame, which has traveled six continents in 129 days, through the Chinese capital.
Yang, who became the first Chinese to go into space in 2003, was the first torchbearer. Yao, who plays for the U.S. National Basketball Association's Houston Rockets, was the ninth to carry the flame.
Security was tight, and state-run media reported that four foreigners were taken away by police in the morning after displaying banners calling for freedom for Tibet near the National Stadium, where Olympic events will take place.
A statement from New York-based Students for a Free Tibet said later that the three men and one woman were from Britain and the United States.
The four displayed a banner with the message, ''One World, One Dream: Free Tibet,'' and another that read ''Tibet Will Be Free,'' according to the group.
China's treatment of Tibet is one of the issues that critics have highlighted in the run-up to the Summer Games, especially after violence erupted in the region in March.
But for ordinary Beijing citizens, the torch relay was a reason for celebration.
''I am so excited,'' said Dong Huahua, a 20-year-old figure skating instructor who watched the torch relay from a Beijing street. ''I fought for a spot to take a good look at the torch.''
