The Olympic flame fought its way through a posse of policemen and protestors to successfully complete its Indian leg on Thursday.
NEW DELHI: The Olympic flame fought its way through a posse of policemen and protestors to successfully complete its Indian leg on Thursday. Thousands of policemen and Tibetan protestors laid siege to the capital as New Delhi hosted the relay.
The might of the khaki was in full display — 10,000 policemen were deployed in a 5 km radius from Parliament to the Le Meridian Hotel where the torch was kept after its arrival from Islamabad late Wednesday. Another 5,000-strong contingent was deployed at various other spots in the city to check any anti-China protestors.
But thousands of Tibetans carried out a parallel “Torch for Tibet relay” earlier in the day to protest against China’s atrocities on Tibetans. Lending moral support were political leaders and activists including George Fernandes, Ramdas Athawale, Nafisa Ali, Jaya
Jaitley, Kirti Azad and Arundhati Roy.
As policemen blanketed the area around the relay route, Delhiites had a tough time travelling owing to the stringent restrictions on movement. “In my 15 years in Delhi, I have never seen such heavy security. You just can’t move anywhere in this arrangement,” said 62-year-old Amit Mishra, walking out of Rail Bhavan.
The day didn’t begin on a happy note for Delhi Police, though. A group of about 60 demonstrators were detained in two separate places shortly after the torch reached the city late on Wednesday. But the heavy security deployment paid off as the main torch relay went off minus any disruptions.
The 2.3-km stretch of Rajpath —where the relay was held — was turned into a virtual fortress.
Officials said patrol cars along the relay route had been equipped with fire extinguishers and blankets, while fire engines had also been sent to the scene, as the fear of Tibetan protestors attempting self-immolations loomed large.
All government offices and buildings surrounding the area were sealed off more than three hours before the scheduled relay. Jeeps carrying security personnel cruised through “vulnerable spots” to ward off disturbances.
Even the Le Meridien Hotel was turned into a fortress. People working in offices situated inside in the hotel had a tough time entering the building with the heavy security deployment.
“The Rapid Action Force had blocked a major part of the road from Meridien. I had to show my I-card at several places before I was finally allowed to go through the human barricade but still I had to flash the I-card all the way. There were cops everywhere inside the hotel building too — the pastry shop, coffee shop, other floors of the building — all you could see was men in uniform,” said Sonali Mathur, who has her office at the hotel.
p_yadav@dnaindia.net
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