The Beijing Olympic torch

[Flash]

The Beijing Olympic torch has touched down in Australia ahead of the next leg of its controversial relay, to be held on the streets of Canberra.

The torch arrived in a China Airlines Airbus A330 at the Royal Australian Airforce base in Fairbairn at 7.50am (AEST), amid tight security.

Nearly half an hour later, the flame emerged carried in a lantern by Chinese officials.

Public access to the Airforce base was restricted although Tibetan demonstrators are believed to be gathering in central Canberra, and are planning a peaceful demonstration during the relay tomorrow.

The national capital has become a city of barricades in response to the flames arrival, amid fears the event may be over-shadowed by by protests, as has been the case in Europe and North America.

More than 500 police will be on hand for the security operation, which is costing nearly $2 million.

They will be keeping a close eye on both pro-Tibet protestors and Chinese supporters, who have been bussed in from around the country.

The torch will be escorted by six Australian Federal Police officers.

Operators will not speculate on their contingency plan if protests get out of control, but it is expected the route is subject to change.

[Flash]

Pro-China demonstrators flood Canberra Australia

Posted 1 hour 46 minutes ago
Updated 17 minutes ago


Thousands of pro-China supporters and a smaller number of pro-Tibet protestors have indundated Canberra for today's Olympic torch relay.

Central Canberra and the area around Parliament House is awash with people, flags and noise, with drums and dancing dragons amid what it primarily a carnival atmosphere.

The highway into Canberra has been carrying busload after busload of people from Sydney and further afield since well before dawn.

The number of Chinese supporters far outweighs the number who have come to voice their concern over human rights in Tibet.

Police have already been forced to intervene between rival groups, asking two sets of opposing demonstrators to disperse near Reconciliation Place, where the relay will start later this morning.

The head of the Canberra torch relay committee admits organisers have been caught by surprise by organised Chinese support for the torch.

"We didn't expect this reaction from the Chinese community," committee head Ted Quinlan admitted.

'[It is] obviously a well-coordinated plan to take the day by weight of numbers. But we have assurances that it will be done peacefully."

Tibetan supporters say they are already feeling overwhelmed by the numbers of Chinese supporters.

Sam Wong from the ACT Chinese Australian Association says both sides have given assurances their protest action will not turn violent.

"Australian people in general are peaceful, harmonious, loving people," he said.

"Among all the communities, including the Chinese and Tibetan, those who live in Australia, I personally have had to deal with them in many, many years, they are strongly supportive of peace and harmony, because we are a great multicultural nation here."

Overnight a small crowd of pro-Tibet demonstrators held a candlelit prayer vigil outside the Chinese embassy, just a few blocks from the route of the torch relay.

Tight security

Security will be tight today as the Olympic torch relay swings into action.

Barricades line the entire route and road blocks will ensure the public is kept at a distance from the runners.

A one-kilometre convoy will follow the runner incorporating 18 vehicles and 6 motorcycles.

ACT chief police officer Michael Phelan says he is hopeful protesters make for a peaceful day.

"Both our intelligence and our liaison with all of those groups has been very good," he said.

"They've assured us that they're looking for a peaceful event to try and showcase not only the message they want to get across but also showcase Australia and Canberra."

[Flash]

The Canberra leg of the Beijing Olympic torch relay began at 8:45 a.m. local time (06:45 Beijing time) Thursday in the Reconciliation Place near Lake Burley Griffin in the center of the city.

Tania Major, the young indigenous leader from Queensland, received the torch from Jiang Xiaoyu, Executive Vice President of the Beijing Organizing Committee for the 2008 Olympic Games (BOCOG), before running the opening leg of the touch relay.

"It is an honor for me to be the first runner," the 26-year-oldYoung Australian of the Year in 2007, told reporters on the eve of the torch relay.

Before the torch relay began, spectators had already enjoyed the pre-dawn fireworks, hot balloon inflation and performances by Chinese and Australian artists, among whom are Descendance Indigenous Dance Theatre and famous folk music singer Lee Kernaghan, who was awarded the Australian of the Year in 2008.

Eighty torch runners will run through the 16-km routes which started from the Reconciliation Place in front of the old parliament house near Lake Burley Griffin and will end at the Stage 88 in the Commonwealth Park, on the other side of the lake.

Thousands of spectators cheered when Tania Major took her first step to start the long-awaited torch relay. Along the relay route, many spectators, most of them with Chinese origin, were waiting for hours to see the sacred flames of the Olympic Games which has already toured 14 legs outside China.

To make sure the torch relay was running smoothly and safely, hundreds of australian and chinese police have been deployed along the routes and barricades have also been erected on both sides of the route.

Thousands cheered the Chinese national Anthem,

There were only two disturbances by Tibetan Terrorists

[Flash]

The 15th leg of the global Olympic flame journey was completed in Canberra Thursday noon as scheduled without major disruptions.

Ian Thorpe, five-time gold medalist, ran as the last torch bearer and lighted the cauldron at 11:30 with loud cheers and applauses from the spectators at the Stage 88 in the Commonwealth Park in the downtown of the capital city.

During the torch relay, tens of thousands of spectators, many of them enthusiastic Chinese expatriates and students, had lined both sides of the streets, waited hours and followed the torch bearers along the route, chanting support for the Beijing Olympics.

Before the cauldron was extinguished, local and international dignitaries had praised the relay as successful and wonderful.

High security profile was in place to prevent major disruptions, with some 1,000 security personnel deployed to safeguard the historical event for Australia.

The whole ceremony lasted nearly three hours, opened with Chinese and Australian dances and songs.

Source: Xinhua

[Flash]

Several people were arrested and minor scuffles reported between the police and protesters on Thursday as the beleaguered Beijing Olympic torch relay made its way under an intense security cordon along Canberra's 16 km, steel-barricaded route to Commonwealth Park.

Unlike disruptions seen in Europe and the US, the relay was smooth here, with the Olympic flame ending its run uninterrupted in full view of spectators, protesters and the media in a festive and noisy atmosphere.

Australian Olympic Committee (AOC) president John Coates thanked torchbearers, spectators, the Australian Capital Territory (ACT) government, the police and Beijing Olympic officials.

"When I welcomed the flame yesterday (Wednesday), I said how proud I was to be welcoming it on behalf of the AOC to our shores on the fourth occasion. I will simply conclude now by saying how proud I am to be Australian. Thank you!" Coates told reporters.

According to Australian Broadcasting Corp (ABC) Radio, a barrage of projectiles, including water bottles, were thrown, and some arrests were made following minor scuffles between pro-China and pro-Tibet demonstrators.

ACT government spokesman Jeremy Lasek told Sky News he believed there had been six arrests but the day had been a "raging success".

Thousands of Chinese supporters and a small group of Tibetan protesters descended on the Australian capital and were lining the route of the torch relay, which has already made its way across Lake Burley Griffin and past Parliament House.

The lead-up to the event was marked by a strong turnout of thousands of pro-China students from Melbourne and Sydney. Students from China make up the largest proportion of overseas students, accounting for 22 percent or 69,848, according to Australian Bureau of Statistics figures for 2006.

Earlier, Aboriginal elder Matilda House led the welcome to country in a traditional Aboriginal smoking ceremony.

There was wide applause as the torch was lit in Canberra, and the first runner, former Young Australian of the Year and indigenous leader Tania Major, flanked by police and several Chinese flame attendants, made her way to the lake from Reconciliation Place.

"Mate, words alone cannot explain how I'm feeling. I just had this big emotional pride. It was such an honour to be the first runner and kick it off, particularly with all the press that's been going on in the lead-up," Major told reporters after the run.

There was a hot-air balloon flying over central Canberra with a banner reading "Don't Torch Tibet", and a skywriter, commissioned by Australian Greens leader Bob Brown, has written "Free Tibet" in the sky above the partly cloudy capital.

Brown, who joined pro-Tibet protesters at Parliament House, told reporters: "The spiritual strength of the Tibetan people is a beacon to the whole world, and up there in the sky is something that the bosses in Beijing cannot erase."

Earlier, in a chilly weather, Tibetan protesters chanted "Shame on China" and
"Human Rights for Tibet" slogans, while the Chinese supporters replied with "Stop Lying" and "One China Forever" and "Olympics for all".

A strong contingent of 440 athletes will represent Australian at the Beijing Olympics, beginning in less than 100 days. The torch is due to reach Japan Saturday.

Meanwhile, three men and a woman were arrested after flying a pro-Tibet protest flag from a building in Kings Cross, Sydney, and will face court next month.