Pro-Tibet Protesters Strike As the Olympic Flame is Lit

The Olympic flame yesterday began its 85,000-mile, meandering journey from rural Greece to Beijing for this summer's Olympic games amid embarrassing scenes, as protests by human rights activists over the turmoil in Tibet all but eclipsed the lighting ceremony.

The choreographed ceremony had barely started when Jean-François Julliard, a member of the press freedom group Reporters Without Borders breached a cordon and rushed onto the ancient site where the president of the Beijing Olympic organizing committee, Liu Qi, was giving a rousing speech.

Moments later the 35-year-old Frenchman was whisked away, but not before he had attempted to unfurl a large black flag depicting the five Olympic rings as handcuffs while horrified guests, including the Greek prime minister, looked on.

As Julliard was bundled by police into a truck, Robert Ménard, the Paris-based group's general secretary who was sitting among the VIPs, unfurled the same flag and began shouting "shame on China".

There were similar scenes as pro-Tibet protesters tried to stand or lie in the way of the two Greek and Chinese athletes chosen to carry the torch out of ancient Olympia. By midday, nine demonstrators, including a Tibetan woman, had been detained.

Fearing disturbances, Greek authorities had deployed over a thousand policemen to the site. Witnesses said the birthplace of the games was also crawling with Chinese undercover security working with local officials to keep the protesters at bay.

Keen to play down the commotion, Athens denounced "actions that have nothing to do with the Olympic spirit".

The Greek state TV channel, NET, in charge of broadcasting the event world-wide, ensured that cameras cut away when Julliard attempted to disrupt Liu's address. The incident was not mentioned, which meant audiences had little idea of the disturbances.

State-run TV in China immediately shifted to a pre-recorded scene when the incident occurred. "It was not deliberate," NET's chief executive, Christos Panagopoulos, told the Guardian. "A senior Chinese official was addressing the ceremony at the time and that was far more important to relay."

By last night it was clear the protests had caused immense embarrassment.

"It's a disgrace," said Lampis Nikolaou, a Greek member of the IOC. "I am furious with these people ... who did not respect the ancient site of Olympia. Whatever their differences with China, they should express them in their own countries."

Officials also admitted that the protests had added to fears that the flame's five-month global journey could be one of the rockiest yet. Maria Floriou at the IOC offices in Athens said the "discreet" police guard accompanying the torch procession around Greece would be tightened ahead of it being handed over to Chinese officials in the Greek capital on Sunday.

The flame is scheduled to arrive at the Beijing stadium on August 8 after being relayed by thousands of torchbearers across five continents.

Beijing vowed to step up security along the route. Prior to the incidents Chinese officials had hoped the relay, like the games, would not only symbolize their country's growing prosperity but confidence and national unity.

But the violence in Tibet has caused mounting international consternation, with the French president, Nicolas Sarkozy, yesterday weighing in with an offer to facilitate talks between China and the Dalai Lama.

Jacques Rogge, the IOC chairman, while admitting that the Olympics are "not a panacea for all ills" reiterated his conviction that they could be a catalyst for change yesterday. "We believe China will change by opening the country to the scrutiny of the world through the 25,000 media who will attend the games."

But speaking in Paris a senior official at Reporters Without Borders said the tumult in Tibet had provided "ample evidence" that China had no intention of improving its human rights record. "What Rogge is saying is complete bullshit," said Fanny Dumont. "Before Beijing was even awarded the games we tried to put pressure on the IOC not to give them because we knew that China would not keep its promises. What is happening in Tibet today is evidence that this is the case."

Meanwhile a former Chinese senior official who fell from grace over the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests urged China to open dialog with the Dalai Lama.

Bao Tong described him as the only Tibetan leader "with the hope of presiding over a reconciliation" with China following riots and widespread unrest.

"So long as the central [government] sits down for dialog with the Dalai Lama and shows great wisdom, great decisiveness and great boldness of vision, the Lhasa incident can be handled well," he wrote in an emailed statement.

Twenty-nine intellectuals signed an open letter this weekend urging officials to open a direct dialog with the Dalai Lama and "stop the violent suppression".

The Tibetan government in exile yesterday raised its calculation of the death toll to 130. Beijing has said that 22 have died, not including three protesters who allegedly jumped from a building while fleeing police.