(dpa) - Several people
have been arrested as the Canberra leg of the beleaguered Beijing torch relay
kicked off Thursday at Lake Burley Griffin.
A barrage of projectiles, including water bottles, have been thrown as
pro-China and pro-Tibet demonstrators clash even as an intense security cordon
and steel barricade on the 16-kilometre route of the relay turns the capital
into a forbidden city.
Thousands of Chinese supporters and a small group of Tibetan protesters have
descended on the Australian capital, lining the route of the torch relay as it
snakes past Parliament House, the National War Memorial and across the lake.
Earlier, Aboriginal elder Matilda House led the welcome to country 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 the Reconciliation Place.
The 80 torch-bearers include Australian sporting heroes, swimmers Libby
Trickett, Matt Welsh and Adam Pine, journalists Jacquelin Magnay and Mark
Beretta, and immunologist and former Australian of the Year Ian Frazer. The
final runner will be swimming great Ian Thorpe.
Australia will be represented by 440 athletes at the Beijing Olympics,
beginning in less than 100 days. a