Tibetans stand firm

NEW DELHI: The numbers have been swelling on both sides. It’s time to put them to test. As the Olympic torch arrives in New Delhi late on Wednesday, the police and Tibetan protesters, who have been pouring into the national capital over the past month, were busy charting their individual plans for Thursday.

The capital, particularly Rajpath — the route of the torch relay — has turned into a fortress with heavy security presence.

On Wednesday, a group of Tibetan tried to storm the Chinese  embassy. And even though more than 100 have been detained over the past two days, the Tibetan Youth Congress (TYC) has vowed to breach security on Thursday. “We will mar the run. Our movement for a free Tibet cannot be stopped by any amount of security. We have surprises in store,” said a member of the TYC.

Tibetans have announced that they will carry out a parallel torch relay to protest against the Chinese atrocities in Tibet.