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5 arrested, 4 injured
amid Olympic torch relay in Nagano
The Japan leg of the
Beijing Olympic torch relay ended Saturday in Nagano, central Japan,
passing along a route lined with protesters against China's crackdown in
Tibet, leaving five men arrested and four men injured.
The last runner Mizuki Noguchi, Athens
Olympics women's marathon gold medalist, reached the final point along
the route where more than 1,000 protestors and supporters were gathered
in pouring rain, some waving Tibetan or Chinese flags.
About 8,500 people gathered around the
relay course to see the Olympic flame, the Nagano municipal government
said.
While five men were arrested and four men
were injured along the relay route, by trying to break into the relay
route or throwing an egg at the runner, the torch passed from one runner
to another without major disruptions as dozens of police officers ran
abreast.
The relay finished at the city's Wakasato
Park, where the Olympic flame was transferred back to the lantern in a
closing ceremony.
Noguchi said after reaching the goal, ''I
was praying for peace while I was running.''
Near the station, while comedian Kinichi
Hagimoto was running, a man hurled what appeared to be two flares at
him.
A Kyodo News reporter heard at that time
someone shouting, ''Shame on you.''
The police said the man who apparently
hurled the flares disappeared and another man who threw what appeared to
be leaflets was questioned by officers before being freed.
Takashi Ishii, head of the Nagano
prefectural police, said after the conclusion of the relay, ''Our
security duty for the Beijing Olympic torch relay finished all right.''
''I would like to thank the citizens for
their understanding and support and all the people related to the matter
from the bottom of my heart,'' he added.
Shortly before 8:30 a.m., Japan national
baseball team manager Senichi Hoshino started the relay at a site owned
by the city about 800 meters southwest of Zenkoji Temple, which earlier
withdrew as the starting point, citing China's crackdown on Buddhists in
Tibet.
The 80 torch bearers followed an
18.7-kilometer course through the city, including the Olympic stadium
used in the 1998 Winter Olympic Games.
The Chinese ambassador to Japan Cui
Tiankai, Japan Olympic Committee President Tsunekazu Takeda and Nagano
Mayor Shoichi Washizawa attended the opening ceremony.
Washizawa cited a phrase from the
Universal Declaration of Human Rights, ''All human beings are born free
and equal in dignity and rights.''
Washizawa also said Nagano will pass on
the Olympic torch, which has been relayed by numerous people, to the
next site in Seoul with hopes for world peace and international
friendship.
Hundreds of protesters and supporters were
seen gathered around the temple holding flags of Tibet and China and
shouting, ''Free Tibet'' and ''One China.''
One of the Japanese spectators told a
Chinese man who was raising the Chinese flag, ''China's human rights
violations are derived from your country's imperialism.''
The Chinese man yelled back, ''Imperialism
and colonialism are Japan's well known features,'' before the two
started heated verbal exchanges.
At Zenkoji Temple, the Japan chapter of
the Students for a Free Tibet, a group supporting Tibet, held a ceremony
at the same time as the opening ceremony to mourn and commemorate the
people who died in the recent riot in Tibet, including both Tibetans and
Chinese, with about 200 participants, according to an official of the
group.
About 30 Tibetans throughout Japan first
chanted Buddhist sutras in the Tibetan language and Japanese monks of
Zenkoji Temple recited the ''Hannyashinkyo.''
Then the names of the people who died in
the riot were read out in the ceremony.
Akemi Takahashi, a public affair official
of the group, said, ''I hope dialogue between the Dalai Lama and the
Chinese government will happen before the opening of the Olympics,''
after the ceremony.
A Chinese news media reported Friday that
Chinese officials would meet a representative of the Tibetan spiritual
leader in the future.
A 30-year-old Tibetan residing in Japan
from Tokyo, who just goes by the name, Kunga, said, ''I don't believe
that is happening because there would have been several reports
regarding the Dalai Lama and the Chinese government talking, but it
never happened.''
Near the temple, media rights group
Reporters Without Borders' secretary general, Robert Menard, and other
members staged a sit out to protest against China's human right records.
''We will protest in a peaceful manner
against China's detention of...journalists and political prisoners, as
well as China's recent crackdown in Tibet. We will be sitting in front
of Zenkoji,'' Menard said shortly before the beginning of the relay in
French via an interpreter.
He Huiqun, a 33-year-old Chinese student
of a Japanese university, said, ''Today we came here in 16 vehicles with
friends and students to back the torch relay. Tibet is part of China.''
There was heavy security in the city with
more than 3,000 police officers deployed and strict restrictions placed
on public access to the starting point.
Ten riot police force members with clear
shields and 100 uniformed police officers surrounded the torch
throughout the relay while two Chinese flame attendants ran alongside
the torch.
The Olympic flame for the Beijing Olympic
Games in August was carried in an aluminum torch, weighing 985 grams and
72 centimeters in height, and decorated with cloud patterns.
The Olympic flame departed Nagano by
Shinkansen bullet train to Tokyo and will leave Japan from Haneda
airport later in the day to Seoul.
2008-04-26 |
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