That torch again – the Indian non-event

The New York Times carries an article and photos of the Olympic Torch relay in Delhi, India. AN extract from the article is below.

The Olympic torch made a strange and lonely procession through central New Delhi on Thursday, with the event so overshadowed by fears of the anti-Chinese protests that marred its appearances in other cities that the public was not allowed close enough to witness it.

Slideshow from the New York Times

The 70-odd Indian athletes and celebrities who carried the torch down the widest avenue in New Delhi, the capital, were outnumbered by thousands of members of the Indian security forces, who stamped out any pomp and excitement, turning the occasion into a tense security operation.

The police said later that 276 protesters, largely Tibetans, had been arrested, under preventive charges, while trying to breach the security cordon.

The authorities sealed off much of the heart of this city of 16 million for hours before the event, anxious to avoid the disruption that had plagued earlier stages of the torch relay and concerned that Tibetan exiles in India would sabotage the occasion.

This relay becomes ever more strange. In fact it is downright surreal. Bird song could be heard in central Delhi, when normally all that is heard is the sounds of a city of 16 million people.

Even more bizarre was the fact that event meant to show off the Olympics was so shrouded in security that no one effectively saw the relay.

Truly, truly weird.