Diana 4-26-2008 09:55
Olympic flame begins Japanese route Olympic flame begins Japanese route
[b]NAGANO, Japan (CNN)[/b] -- The Olympic flame relay throughNagano, Japan, kicked off with little incident on Saturday despiteconcerns over anti-China protests that have threatened the torch alongits journey to host city Beijing.
[img=292,219]http://i.l.cnn.net/cnn/2008/WORLD/asiapcf/04/25/oly.torch.japan/art.torch.nagano.ap.jpg[/img]Baseball manager Senichi Hoshino was the first torchbearer in the Japan portion of the relay.
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Heavysecurity flanked torchbearer Senichi Hoshino, manager of the Japanesenational baseball team, as he started the relay in Nagano, home of the1998 Winter Olympic Games.
A few on the sidelines waved Tibetanflags, but they were outnumbered by those holding large Chinese flags.Security officers lined the streets, keeping two sides of spectators atbay, and dozens more paced in single file alongside the torchbearers.
The relay was running smoothly until a protester holding a Tibetan flagthrew himself at a torchbearer, briefly holding up the latest leg.Security officers quickly tackled the man, dragging him away beforearresting him.
Earlier, a group of anti-China protesters threw objects at the relay, prompting police to push back at the crowd.
The torch's previous stop in Canberra, Australia, was only marginallyplagued by anti-China protests, though demonstrators have caused moresignificant disruptions in other cities.
Torchbearers in Nagano include comedian Kinichi Hagimoto and several Japanese [url=http://topics.cnn.com/topics/Summer_Olympics]Olympic[/url] medallists.
The original starting point of the Nagano relay, the city's famedZenkoji Temple, declined to participate because of China's crackdown onBuddhist monks in Tibet.
The torch ends its round-the-world jaunt in August in Beijing, [url=http://topics.cnn.com/topics/China]China[/url], host city of the 2008 Olympics.
Students for a Free Tibet [url=http://topics.cnn.com/topics/Japan]Japan[/url]had announced plans to demonstrate at the Nagano leg of the relay withbanners and speeches but no loudspeakers, Japanese media reported.
The demonstrators are protesting China's policy toward Tibet, which haslong petitioned for more democratic rights and freedoms, and China'shuman rights record.
Don't Miss [list][*][url=http://edition.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/asiapcf/04/25/olympics.interpol/index.html]Interpol: Protesters will target Olympics[/url][*]Map: [url=http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/asiapcf/03/20/oly.torchrelay/index.html]Follow the torch relay[/url][*]Special report: [url=http://www.cnn.com/SPECIALS/2008/news/olympics/]Olympics: Countdown 2008[/url][*][b]iReport.com: [/b][url=http://www.ireport.com/ir-topic-stories.jspa?topicId=5797]Share your Olympic torch news and images[/url][/list]
On Friday, the Falun Gong spiritual movement, banned in China as adangerous cult, held a morning protest in a Nagano park, and a smallgroup of protesters waved banners reading "Free Tibet" during theafternoon, The Associated Press reported.
Security concernsprompted Pakistani officials to close the relay to the public and holdit at a stadium in front of invited guests.
India truncatedthe route and kept protesters at bay by lining the route with thousandsof police officers and paramilitary troopers.
But stops in some countries, such as Argentina, Tanzania and Oman, have been trouble-free.
The torch has been shadowed on its journeys by pro-Tibet demonstratorswho troubled the relay in London, England; Paris, France; and SanFrancisco, California. Stops in those cities attracted tens ofthousands of demonstrators and prompted dozens of arrests.
Theflame arrived in Australia this week from a relatively incident-freejaunt through Jakarta, Indonesia, where torchbearers circled a trackaround the city's main sports stadium in front of invited guests andjournalists.
At least five people were arrested during the relay in Canberra amid a few scuffles between pro-[url=http://topics.cnn.com/topics/Tibet]Tibet[/url] and pro-China demonstrators described by police as "minor."
In all, 80 runners carried the torch through the Australian capital.All along the route, and in a large crowd at the cauldron lighting, redChinese national flags vastly outnumbered Australian flags or bannersfrom any other nation. [img=16,14]http://i.l.cnn.net/cnn/.element/img/2.0/mosaic/tabs/video.gif[/img] [url=http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/asiapcf/04/25/oly.torch.japan/index.html#cnnSTCVideo]Watch how the relay was relatively incident-free »[/url]
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Many in attendance appeared to be some of the thousands of Chinese students who study in Australia each year.
Police quickly dealt with any signs of trouble, and the torch traveledits route -- shortened from 20 km (12 miles) to 16 km (10 miles)because of security concerns -- with little difficulty. Only once did aprotester run into the street directly in front of the torchbearer, buthe was swiftly apprehended by police.