Scores arrested amid tight security as torch hits India

SCORES of Tibetan demonstrators were arrested yesterday as thousands of police and soldiers defended the Beijing Olympic torch on a suffocating run through the Indian capital.

The heart of New Delhi was almost totally sealed off for the most sensitive leg of the protest-hit global relay to date, with security personnel far outnumbering the schoolboys and other select onlookers allowed to watch.

India is home to 100,000 Tibetan refugees, including the Dalai Lama and radical youth groups, and authorities wanted to ensure that chaotic protests like those seen in Paris and London did not mar the event.