Free Tibet demonstrators hijack Olympic torch ceremony

In a globally televised ceremony to mark the start of a five-month torch relay, the actress Maria Nafpliotou playing the high priestess used a break in the clouds to light the torch in front of the Temple of Hera.

However, just before the torch-lighting ceremony inside the archaeological site that played host to the Olympics in ancient Greece, three demonstrators managed to break a tight police cordon.

One of them, carrying a black banner with five interlocked handcuffs in the pattern of the Olympics rings, approached Beijing Games chief Liu Qi during his speech in front of hundreds of officials but was quickly led away by police before unfolding it.

Liu failed to get distracted by the commotion and continued his speech, while television footage immediately cut away from the incident.

"The Olympic flame will radiate light and happiness, peace and friendship, and hope and dreams to the people of China and the whole world," Liu told the assembled crowd.

Police said that three men had so far been arrested and would be charged with breaching the peace.

Press freedom group Reporters Without Borders said three of its members had tried to stage the protest.

"If the Olympic flame is sacrificed, human rights are even more so," the group said in a statement on its website.

"We cannot let the Chinese government seize the Olympic flame, a symbol of peace without condemning the dramatic human rights situation."

Reporters Without Borders secretary general Robert Menard unfurled a second black banner from the VIP area where he was seated.

Protests also followed the first few runners of the relay, with several demonstrators briefly holding up the runners, when they lay in front of the convoy of cars.

Others wore Free Tibet T-shirts and a large banner was hanging from one of the buildings along the main street through Olympia.

"They managed to hold up the relay very briefly at three different parts of the high street," a Reuters photographer said.

Exiled Tibetans had pledged to demonstrate on the day against China's security crackdown in the region and what they say is the IOC's hesitance to pressure Beijing to improve its human rights record.

Police said an additional 25 protesters had attempted to come in but a strong police presence kept them at bay before they dispersed.

Greek police added they had also detained Tibetan activist Tenzin Dorjee of the Students for Free Tibet group in Olympia.

He was not part of the protest but was planning to stage a demonstration later in the day.

"I was just arrested by over 20 Greek undercover officers. I am now held at the police station," he told Reuters.

Greek athlete Alexandros Nikolaidis, an Athens 2004 Games taekwondo silver medallist, was the first torchbearer starting a six-day Greek relay before the flame is handed over to the Chinese on March 30. China's only Athens 2004 Games swimming gold medallist Luo Xuejuan was the second runner.

The flame then starts a long international and Chinese relay that will include Tibet and the peak of Mount Everest before ending in Beijing on Aug 8 when the Games officially open.

"I express here the hope that the symbol of the torch will be recognised by everybody and that the right circumstances can be created, wherever the torch travels, for it to resonate," International Olympic Committee president Jacques Rogge said in a speech inside the ancient stadium.