March 25, 2008	Tuesday	Rabi-ul-Awwal 16, 1429

ANCIENT OLYMPIA (Greece), March 24: Human rights demonstrators breached tight security and tried to hijack the Beijing Olympic torch lighting ceremony and relay in ancient Olympia on Monday.

Just before the torch was lit in the archaeological site that played host to the Olympics in ancient Greece, three demonstrators managed to break a tight police cordon.

One of them, carrying a black banner with five interlocked handcuffs in the pattern of the Olympic rings, approached Beijing Games chief Liu Qi during his speech in front of hundreds of officials but was quickly led away by police.

Exiled Tibetans had pledged to demonstrate against China’s security actions in the region.

Press freedom group Reporters Without Borders (RSF) said three of its members had tried to stage the protest.

“We cannot let the Chinese government seize the Olympic flame, a symbol of peace without condemning the dramatic human rights situation,” the group said in a statement. RSF secretary-general Robert Menard unfurled a second black banner from the VIP area where he was seated.

Smaller protests also took place during the first few kilometres of the relay leading to another six people being detained.

Police said nine people were briefly detained and at least one woman — a Swiss national — and the three demonstrators from the stadium would be charged. But they are expected to be freed pending their trial.“It is always sad to see such a ceremony disrupted,” IOC president Jacques Rogge told reporters.

Actress Maria Nafpliotou playing the high priestess used a break in the clouds to light the torch from the sun’s rays in front of the Temple of Hera.

The globally televised ceremony marked the start of a five-month international torch relay that will include Tibet and the peak of Mount Everest before ending in Beijing on Aug 8 when the Games officially open.—Reuters