The Olympic flame arrives in China this morning for a ceremony in Tiananmen Square where security, already tight, has been stepped up to avert protests similar to those that have trailed its first week on the road.

It is a moment that hundreds of millions of Chinese have awaited with pride and anticipation, and the event will be broadcast live on state-run television and attended by top government leaders. That will be in contrast to the troubled first week of the route.

Scores of security vehicles followed torch-bearers across Greece and helicopters hovered while a small group of pro-Tibet activists tried to stop the flame from reaching the Panathinaiko stadium in Athens, where officials from Beijing were waiting to receive it. The security measures have been described as the strictest since the 1936 Berlin Games.

Protesters holding Tibet flags and shouting “Free Tibet” and “China out of Tibet” failed to break through a police cordon and reach the torch-bearer entering the stadium.

Similar protests are expected to follow the flame as it travels for 130 days around the world before the start of the Beijing Games on August 8. The torch will go first to Almaty in Kazakhstan on April 2, returning to Beijing on May 4. It is due in London on April 6 and pro-Tibet activists have said that they plan to stage demonstrations to coincide with its arrival.

The handover came as protesters tried to storm the Chinese Embassy in Kathmandu. A group of about 200 Tibetan exiles and Buddhist monks were beaten back by Nepalese police. At least 130 were arrested.

The anger has erupted since an anti-Chinese riot in the Tibetan capital, Lhasa, in which furious Tibetans stabbed and beat ethnic Han Chinese, killing at least 18 people and setting fire to hundreds of shops and offices. China accused the exiled Dalai Lama of orchestrating the unrest. Exiled Tibetans and activists say that China’s heavy-handed rule in the Himalayan region sparked the turmoil.

Authorities have tightened security in Tiananmen Square, announcing new spot checks of identity cards, apparently in an attempt to prevent any Tibetans or foreign activists from penetrating the security cordon.

China is certain to impose a lockdown in Lhasa, where the torch is due on June 20. Similar measures will surround a second flame that is to be taken to the top of Mount Everest, whose northern approach lies in Tibet.

Reports emerged that pointed to the difficulty China faces in calming tensions in Tibet. A disturbance occurred at the weekend in Lhasa when residents of the Tibetan quarter panicked as police moved in to check identity papers.

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