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LHASA - The latest leg of the Olympic torch relay was held in the Tibetan capital Saturday, amid tight security after deadly riots against Chinese rule three months ago, as rights groups condemned the event.
Hand-picked spectators cheered runners as they carried the torch through Lhasa for the relay, which ended in front of the Potala Palace, exiled Tibetan leader the Dalai Lama's former chief residence.
Paramilitary police watched the event closely from the ground and surrounding buildings, an AFP photographer witnessed, while the area was closed off to all but those given special passes for the relay.
Tibetan singer Caidan Zhuoma ran the flame to the palace before it was combined with the special flame that was carried up the Tibetan side of Mount Everest during an earlier leg of the relay.
The carefully-staged event ended apparently without incident after less than two hours, instead of the scheduled three, with no immediate reason given for the shortened period.
Many locals were told to stay at home, and shops along the relay route in the remote, Himalayan city were closed to the public.
"We are not supposed to leave the hotel to watch the relay, so we are staying inside," an employee at the Tibet International Hotel told AFP.
Human rights groups condemned the event as provocative, while pro-Tibet activists argued that the leg should have been cancelled in the wake of the unrest there in March.
Beijing's crackdown on the unrest which started in Lhasa -- and spread to other areas of western China with Tibetan populations -- drew international concern over China's rule of the region.
Exiled Tibetan leaders say 203 people died in the clampdown, while China has reported killing one Tibetan "insurgent" and says "rioters" were responsible for 21 deaths.
The crackdown sparked international protests that dogged the torch's month-long global journey in April, before it arrived in China ahead of the Beijing Games in August.
China released 1,157 people who were involved in the Lhasa riots, the official Xinhua news agency said on the eve of Saturday's relay, a move seen as an attempt to defuse tension ahead of the event.
However, courts on Thursday and Friday also handed down "punishments" to 12 people involved in the unrest, Xinhua also reported, bringing to 42 the number punished so far.
On Saturday morning, crowds in Lhasa waved flags and cheered "Good Luck Beijing" and "Good wishes for the Olympics" in unison as the torch made its way through the city.
Starting from Norbulingka, the former summer palace of the Dalai Lama, the torch was carried first by 75-year-old Tibetan mountaineering hero Gonpo.
The Chinese government shortened the original route in Tibet to just one day instead of three.
It later cut the event from eight hours to three, citing last month's massive earthquake.
Human Rights in China, a New York-based rights group, said Saturday it was "deeply concerned" by the government's decision to send the torch to Tibet."
This provocative decision -- with the blessing of the International Olympic Committee -- could aggravate tensions and undermine the fragile process to find a peaceful long-term solution for Tibet and the region," said executive director Sharon Hom.
"Sending the torch into the highly combustive atmosphere of Lhasa is the height of irresponsibility," said Anne Holmes, acting director of the London-based Free Tibet Campaign.
China says the Dalai Lama was behind the March unrest, but he has repeatedly denied any involvement and insisted he does not want independence for the region, which was annexed by China in 1951.
The unrest began with monks leading peaceful protests in Lhasa to mark a 1959 uprising against Chinese rule.
The protests erupted into widespread rioting days later, then spread to other areas. - AFP/vm
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