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KUALA LUMPUR - Malaysia will deploy an elite police squad along with 1,000 police officers to protect the Olympic torch relay amid fears that protesters will disrupt the leg, a report said Saturday.
The torch arrives early Sunday, Malaysian Olympic officials said, ahead of Monday's relay. It will be kept at an undisclosed location.
"We are well-prepared to counter any form of disturbance from anyone or any organisation," the city's public order chief, K. Kumaran, told The Star daily.
"Personnel from (the Special Action Squad) will be in their full operational uniform and run along with the torch bearers," he said.
Police have also increased the number of officers manning the 16.5-kilometre torch route from 600 to 1000, Kumaran said.
Eighty torch bearers, including local personalities and celebrities, will carry the flame from Independence Square in the heart of Kuala Lumpur to the capital's iconic Petronas twin towers on its four-hour journey.
The beefed-up security comes after 30 Falungong supporters demonstrated outside the Chinese embassy on Friday, alleging that the Chinese government was using the Beijing Games as a reason to persecute the group's practitioners.
China outlawed the Falungong, which combines meditation with Buddhist-inspired teachings, as an "evil cult" in mid-1999.
Local Malaysian Olympic officials have also voiced concerns that foreign protesters upset over China's rule of Tibet could target the Kuala Lumpur relay.
A Chinese crackdown on recent demonstrations in Tibet has ignited protests at the torch's previous stops, notably London and Paris.
Meanwhile, Malaysia's Vajrayana Buddhist Council is holding a prayer session on Sunday to call for a smooth torch relay and a peaceful Olympics.
The torch's Asia relay includes stops in India, Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, Australia, South Korea, Japan and Vietnam before heading to China. - AFP/ir
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