Tuesday, April 22, 2008
Pro-Tibet activists rally ahead of Olympic torch relay in Indonesia
Source: The Jakarta Post

Police detained eight people, including a Dutch citizen, and seized flags from pro-Tibet activists in Indonesia on Tuesday as the Olympic torch relay staggered its way through Asia.

Security was tight with water cannons and 3,000 police officers deployed around the main sports stadium in the bustling capital, Jakarta, where the relay was held before a small, invitation-only crowd, said deputy police chief Herri Wibowo.

China had hoped the journey of its Olympic flame worldwide would be a showcase of solidarity and support for its games, which begin in August. But criticism of Beijing's human rights record has turned the relay into one of the most contentious in recent history.

Protests against Beijing's deadly crackdown on anti-government riots in Tibet dogged the torch run during its stops in Greece, Paris, London and San Francisco.

Some countries, including Indonesia, responded by sharply modifying routes. And a handful of torch bearers - most recently in Australia and South Korea - said they would boycott the run in protest.

The torch arrived Tuesday under dark, rainy skies at Jakarta's Bung Karno Stadium, where around 100 demonstrators had turned out earlier in the day. Several were detained by police, who also seized flags and banners strung onto the front gate.

"I am completely peaceful," said the Dutch man, identified by local media as Stef Bolte. He was among eight people led away by plainclothes officers, all of whom were later released. "I am protesting human rights violations in Tibet."

The relay was low key after the Chinese Embassy insisted it be shortened and limited to only 5,000 invited guests, mostly school children, said government and sport officials and people connected with the relay's sponsors.

"I am excited to witness history," said Andrea Putri, 15. "This kind of thing does not happen every day."

Jakarta's governor started the relay, becoming the first of 80 torchbearers to follow a route that circled the stadium five times instead of running through the streets of Jakarta as originally planned.

The event was not televised live, apparently because no station was prepared to pay for the rights.

The relay has attracted little interest in Indonesia's media or the public, perhaps because the Olympics themselves are not very popular. Indonesia was the only country in the world not to air TV broadcasts of the 2004 Olympics in Athens.

The relay heads next to Australia's capital, where torch bearer Lin Hatfield-Dodds said Tuesday she would not take part. The social justice advocate said that while she still supports the Olympics and its athletes, the symbolism of the relay had changed after China's Tibet crackdown.

Hundreds of police are to 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, where the relay has been rerouted in the mountainous city of Nagano in central Japan, which hosted the 1998 Winter Olympics.

Two South Koreans slated to run in the torch relay in Seoul on Sunday said they would boycott the event to protest the Tibet crackdown.

"The decision was unavoidable and it has been determined that the Tibetan crisis counters the spirit of the Olympics," said Choi Seung-kook, secretary-general of the environmental group Green Korea.

The other South Korean, a lawyer, heads the Seoul-based civic group and think tank Hope Institute.