Tibetans try to breach security at Chinese Embassy

New Delhi, Apr 16 (UNI) Barely hours before the Olympic torch is to arrive in India, as many as 100 Tibetans tried to breach security cordon around the Chinese Embassy here this morning.

Police said 47 of them, including 16 women, were detained and the rest were pushed back into buses they had arrived in near the Embassy at Chanakyapuri, which has been under a heavy security blanket since anti-China protests broke out.

Wearing black head bands with ''Free Tibet'' slogan and carrying Tibetan flags, the protestors spray-painted ''No Olympics in China'' on a street near the embassy.

The Olympic torch is expected to arrive here from Islamabad later today and the relay will be held along the Rajpath tomorrow under unprecedented security.

India is home to a large Tibetan Community and the government is going all out to ensure the torch relay tomorrow passes off peacefully, after incidents of protests in London, Paris and San Francisco.

There is going to be a three-layer security ring, including Chinese commandos, for the event.

The Chinese personnel, drawn from the Olympic Holy Flame Protection Group, will form the inner circle of the ring, while the commandos of the elite National Security Guards will provide close proximity security for the torch relay.

The outer circle will comprise security personnel from Delhi Police and Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF).

About 15,000 police personnel, NSG commandos and paramilitary forces will be on the streets for the event.

Ahead of the event, the Home Ministry yesterday reviewed the security arrangements.

All necessary arrangements are being made to ensure that the brief event passes off peacefully, a Ministry spokesman told mediapersons after an hour-long meeting presided over by Home Secretary Madhukar Gupta.

The relay was reduced to 2.3 km on the well-secured Rajpath, access to which would be blocked by the police.

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