Malaysia Detains Five, Avoids Olympic Torch Disorder (Update4)
By Ranjeetha Pakiam and Chan Tien Hin
April 21 (Bloomberg) -- Malaysian police detained five
people at the Beijing Olympic Games torch relay through Kuala
Lumpur as authorities avoided a repeat of disruptions during the
European and U.S. stages.
Police held a Japanese couple and their 5-year-old son for
waving a Tibetan flag, a monk and a 35-year-old British woman,
Muhammad Sabtu Othman, the city's police chief, said in an
interview. None was arrested. Officials pushed aside another man
who ran toward the torch shouting, ``shame.'' The words ``Beijing
Torching Human Rights'' were written on his T-shirt.
Protestors in London, Paris and San Francisco disrupted the
relay to draw attention to the Chinese government's human rights
record. China blames supporters of the Dalai Lama, Tibet's
spiritual leader, for organizing the most serious unrest in 20
years in Tibet's capital, Lhasa, last month.
Police Assistant Commissioner K. Kumaran, Kuala Lumpur's
internal security and public order chief, earlier pledged
``stern action against anyone who creates public disorder.''
About 1,000 armed police officers were deployed for the event.
About 2,000 people gathered at the start of the relay in
Malaysia, where a quarter of the Asian nation's 25 million
population is ethnic Chinese. They included about 500 Chinese
supporters who sang the national anthem and chanted that the
Olympic Games should be kept free of politics.
Plastic Batons
Police took away the Japanese family after Chinese
supporters hit them with inflatable plastic batons, Agence
France-Presse reported. They shouted out that Taiwan and Tibet
belong to China, AFP said.
The crowd along the 16.5-kilometer (10.3-mile) run swelled
to about 5,000 before torchbearers reached their final
destination at the Petronas Twin Towers, the world's second-
tallest building. Trucks of police were on standby at the towers.
Indonesia will keep tomorrow's relay in Jakarta within the
capital's main sports complex to ensure security and avoid
traffic congestion.
The torch will arrive in Jakarta shortly after midnight and
be taken to the Shangri-la Hotel. The 80 torch bearers will make
the 5.6-kilometer run between 2 p.m. and 4 p.m. tomorrow within
the Gelora Bung Karno complex, which houses the national stadium,
said Sumohardi Marsis, a member of the Olympic Council of
Indonesia.
Australian authorities reduced the length of the torch
relay route through the capital, Canberra, later this week to 17
kilometers from 20 kilometers to ensure it remains on main roads,
said Jess Wurf, a spokeswoman for the Australian Capital
Territory's chief minister. The route is being fenced off to
protect the 80 runners from protesters.
More Power
Police will be given extra powers while the flame is in the
city, the minister's office said last week. Officers will be
allowed to search demonstrators for items such as guns, knives,
flares and smoke bombs. The Canberra relay takes place April 24.
London police arrested 37 people during the procession on
April 6. The next day in Paris, the flame was extinguished and
relit at least once and then bused across the city as activists
blocked the runners.
The relay, which started April 1, will cover 137,000
kilometers (85,000 miles) before arriving back in mainland China
on May 4.
Japanese officials chose a new starting point for the
nation's stage of the relay on April 26 after a Buddhist temple
pulled out because of concern among monks about China's crackdown
in Tibet as well as security issues, Kyodo News reported.
Nagano City officials will now start the leg at a city-
owned site instead of the Zenkoji Temple, according to the
report.
To contact the reporters on this story:
Ranjeetha Pakiam in Kuala Lumpur or at
rpakiam@bloomberg.net;
Chan Tien Hin in Kuala Lumpur
thchan@bloomberg.net
Last Updated: April 21, 2008 06:57 EDT