(dpa) - Amid heavy security, the Beijing Olympic torch relay prepared to kick off in Indonesia's capital Jakarta Tuesday, as dozens of activists staged a pro-Tibet rally outside the city's main sports stadium.
The relay was originally planned to pass through large stretches of bustling city, but due to security concerns the route was cut short around the Bung Karno Sports Complex in central Jakarta, organizers said.
Eighty 80 torch bearers - including officials, athletes and artists - will take turns carrying the flame along a 7-kilometre route inside the sports stadium complex.
Members of the public will be barred from directly watching the relay, and only about 5,000 invited guests, including Indonesian and Chinese students would witness the relay, while some 2,500 security personnel will be deployed to guard in and around the area.
"Nobody can enter the area - sports stadium - without an official invitation," said Sumohadi Marsis, head of the Olympic torch organizing committee.
Police detained five people including one foreigner, and seized flags of pro-Tibet activists during a rally by about 150 activists outside the stadium, witnesses said.
But police allowed dozens of other protestors to rally at the gate of the main sports stadium, witnesses said.
The torch arrived in Jakarta shortly after midnight Monday from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, and was taken to the Shangri-La Hotel in central Jakarta until the start of the relay.
Rita Subowo, chairwoman of Indonesia's sports' committee, told a press conference on Monday that initially, the organizers would give people the chance to see the torch relay - but after some protests in other countries the committee decided to change the route at Beijing's request.
Anti-China groups, including Falungong, free-Tibet groups and Greenpeace, planned to stage protests in conjunction with the torch relay, activist leaders said.
The chosen torch bearers include Jakarta Governor Fauzi Bowo, Tourism Minister Jero Wacik, Chinese Ambassador to Indonesia Lan Linjun and badminton world champion Taufik Hidayat.
Protests dogged the torch relay during its stops in Paris, London and San Francisco, with demonstrations over China's crackdown on anti-government protesters in Tibet.