By Prensa Latina,
New Delhi : Despite the attempts by Tibetan groups to interrupt the event and call the attention, the 2008 Olympic Games torch had its tour on this capital Thursday along historical Rajpath Avenue.
The reiterated protesting actions in the last days and even Thursday in other zones of the capital, together with the threatening by followers of the Dalai Lama to interrupt the event, forced the Indian government to take intense security measures.
The 2008 Olympic Games torch tour started on the hand of Indian female weightlifter Kunjun Rani Devi at the top of the Raisima Hill, and sent from one hand to the other by 70 carriers, 47 of them current and veteran athletes, up to the Arc of India.
The rest were personalities of the Indian culture, politics and other fields.
Tennis players Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi were the last, and went together up to the Arc of India, to deliver the torch to Sheila Dikshit, head of the government of New Delhi.
Sheila Dikshit light a cauldron made for the occasion and gave the Olympic torch to Suresh Kalmadi, president of the Olympic Association of India, who spoke to an audience.
Among the carriers, there were former athletics P. T. Usha, movie star Saif Ali Khan and cricket star Bishen Singh Bedi.
The authorities deployed 50 police units for security because of the attempts of Tibetan groups which wanted to affect public order.
Thirty of these elements were arrested when they surprised authorities who were on the preparations and tried to make a protest, by carrying another torch of their own at the Rajpath Avenue.
The police arrested another 60 for a violent protest in front of the Chinese Embassy in New Delhi Wednesday, and another 32 Thursday early morning in front of the Le Meridian Hotel, where the Chinese delegation working on the tour was staying.
India was the 11th scale in the world tour of the 2008 Olympic Games torch, which will go from here to Thailand.