Posted on 04/26/2008 11:21:36 AM PDT by DeaconBenjamin
The Japan leg of the Beijing Olympic torch relay ended Saturday in Nagano passing along a route lined with protesters against China’s crackdown in Tibet, leaving five men arrested and four men injured.
The last runner, Athens Olympics women’s marathon gold medalist Mizuki Noguchi, reached the goal where more than 1,000 protesters and supporters were gathered in pouring rain, some waving Tibetan or Chinese flags.
While five men were arrested and four men were injured along the relay route, 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.’’
An Asian-looking man holding a Tibetan flag was arrested after allegedly trying to break into the relay route when table tennis player Ai Fukuhara was carrying the torch, causing the relay to temporarily halt, police said.
A Japanese man who tried to rush toward the torch near JR Nagano Station was also arrested, they said.
A third man was arrested after throwing an egg at a runner.
Near the station, when comedian Kinichi Hagimoto was running, a man hurled what appeared to be two flares at him, yelling ‘‘Shame on you.’’
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, ‘‘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 bottom of my heart,’’ after the conclusion of the torch relay.
Shortly before 8:30 a.m., Japan national baseball team manager Senichi Hoshino led 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, JOC 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.
The Olympic flame was transferred from the lantern at the ceremony.
An official of the Beijing Organizing Committee for the Games of the XXIX Olympiad passed the torch to Hoshino, 61, via the Nagano mayor.
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, 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, said shortly before the beginning of the relay in French via an interpreter, ‘‘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.’’
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.
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 at 11:30 p.m. to Seoul.
The word earlier was that the Japanese were refusing to allow the use of the Chicom thugs. Since the thugs aren’t mentioned here I guessing the Japanese kept their word.
That’s what I recall as well.
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