Olympic torch taken to secret location in Australia

The Olympic flame reached Australia today for the next leg of the troubled torch relay, and was whisked away to a secret location to avoid potential trouble from anti-China protesters.

High fences were being erected along the route where 80 runners will carry the torch through the Australian capital tomorrow.

Hundreds of police will guard the torch in Canberra to prevent the type of interruptions that have plagued the relay in cities including Paris and London during its global march toward the Beijing Olympics in August.

In Sydney today, police stopped two people from unfurling a banner on the landmark Sydney Harbour Bridge that demanded freedom for Tibet from Chinese rule.

They were fined AUS$100 and released.

Protests over China’s human rights record and its crackdown on anti-government activists in Tibet have turned this year’s event into one of the most contentious in recent history. Many countries, including Australia, have responded by modifying routes and boosting security.

Police in Canberra sought to end lingering confusion about the role of Chinese security agents in the relay, with police chief Mike Phelan saying three Chinese “flame attendants” will always be near the torch but will have no official security role.

The blue-clad Chinese officials became notorious following claims that they acted like thugs during chaotic protest scenes in London earlier this month.

Chinese ambassador to Australia Zhang Junsai told Channel Nine television news yesterday that Chinese security officials may intervene, saying: “If the flame is attacked I believe they will use their body.”

However, Australian officials said today that they had sorted out some communication issues between themselves and Chinese officials.

“All security will rest with us,” Mr Phelan said. “I don’t know if I can be any clearer than that.”

The flame arrived at an air base in Canberra from Indonesia and was greeted by government and Olympic officials and Aboriginal elder Agnes Shea, who said she hoped the torch’s stay would symbolise “goodwill for all mankind”.

Officials said the flame’s location was being kept secret between its arrival and the relay tomorrow because of the threat of protests.

“I don’t know, and I don’t want to know,” Australian relay organiser Ted Quinlan told reporters. “Originally, it was going to a hotel but there’s a distinct possibility it’s going to go to the embassy.”

Torch bearer Lin Hatfield-Dodds withdrew from the rally yesterday, saying the symbolism of the relay had changed after China’s Tibet crackdown last month.

Other torch bearers said the Olympics were the wrong place to make political protests.

Ian Thorpe, a five-time Olympic gold medallist swimmer, who will carry the torch tomorrow, said the protests “shouldn’t be centred around a specific event”.

Simon Bradshaw, of the Australia Tibet Council, expected about 500 supporters for what he said would be peaceful protests in Canberra.

“This is not an attempt to mar the Olympics, and it’s certainly not an attack on the Chinese people. It’s a message of support for Tibet,” he told The Associated Press.

About 4,000 Chinese students were expected in the capital to support the torch relay.

The relay will thread along a 10-mile (16km) route which passes Parliament House and within 200 yards (200m) of the Chinese embassy.

Australian police have been given special powers to stop and search people for prohibited items such as eggs and paint bombs.

Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd has said police will “come down like a ton of bricks” on anyone who behaves violently or unlawfully during the relay.

After Australia, the flame will head to Nagano, Japan, where a historic Buddhist temple has backed out of plans to host the flame because of security concerns and unease among its monks and supporters over China’s treatment of Buddhists in Tibet.