The Olympic torch snaked through India's capital on Thursday, along boulevards purged of spectators, as 15,000 police kept protests from the world's largest community of exiled Tibetans far from the route.Around 70 sportsmen and celebrities including Bollywood film stars jogged along streets on a roughly 3-km route, shortened due to fears of Tibetan protests after disruptions in other cities like Paris.Across India, thousands of mainly Tibetans protested.There were almost no crowds apart from some flag-waving Chinese and a few dozen school children bussed in by officials.Surrounded by security guards in tracksuits, police and troops with automatic rifles, runners could only wave to the television cameras.Outside the massive security cordon, dozens of Tibetans were detained for trying to protest.The torch, which is en route to China for the Games in Beijing, arrived in a plane before dawn and was met by protests across India, where thousands of Tibetans marched with golden Buddhist prayer lamps.A few hours before the relay, thousands of Tibetans marched through the capital in a parallel relay to demand Tibet's independence and protest against Chinese policies in their homeland, in particular its crackdown last month on unrest."China's torch is a flame of shame," read one of their banners."There cannot be any Games without Tibet. Bring Tibet to the Games," said Tenzing Khentssin, dressed in a white 'Torch Tibet' T-shirt as he marched amid chanting protesters, surrounded by hundreds of police.Police also detained about two dozen Tibetan protesters when the torch arrived from Pakistan in the pre-dawn hours of Thursday. Many were dragged into police vans as they shouted anti-China slogans.In the mainly Buddhist region of Ladakh in India's Himalayas, thousands of people, including monks clad in traditional red robes, marched to show solidarity with Tibetan protesters.In the northern town of Dharamsala, home to the Tibetan government-in-exile, some 1,500 Tibetans shouting 'Free Tibet' marched and shops closed in solidarity.In Mumbai, Tibetan protesters shouted slogans and waved Tibetan flags near Chinese consulate offices. Police had detained at least a dozen by Thursday morning.BESET BY PROTESTSThe torch has been beset by protests through Europe and the Americas, over Chinese rule in Tibet. In some places, protesters tried to snuff out the flame and organisers extinguished or hid the torch to keep it safe.Fearing similar protests, India trimmed the route to a third of the original 9-km distance, restricting it to a high-security stretch used for the annual Republic Day parade in the Indian capital.India has been a centre of regular protests for weeks and exiles even scaled the walls of the Chinese embassy.Office workers struggled to get home, with many streets in the centre closed to traffic. One large school near the Chinese embassy has warned parents of the dangers of tear gas from police wafting into classrooms if there are protests.Several metro stations in the capital were closed.The Dalai Lama, Tibet's exiled spiritual leader, has voiced his support for the Beijing Games. He has urged Tibetans to desist from disrupting the torch relay.But protests have continued unabated. India had to assure China of adequate security for the torch after the Chinese Foreign Minister called his Indian counterpart this month.The Indian government has been reluctant to criticise China over Tibet, despite some public support for the exiles as well as criticism in the media of New Delhi's soft line.The controversy reached Parliament on Thursday.Indian football captain Bhaichung Bhutia has refused to carry the Olympic torch in protest against China's response to the unrest in Tibet.The torch will next head to Bangkok.
