Radical Tibetan exiles say they are planning to interrupt the Olympic torch relay as it moves through the streets of Delhi today from the presidential palace to the India Gate arched memorial.

"It is going to be tough to get through the security, but we will do something dramatic," said Norbu, 25, a member of the Tibetan Youth Congress, which advocates independence and reserves the right to use violence.

TYC members have staged a series of bold protests in recent weeks, including storming the Chinese Embassy in Delhi last month, and carrying a mock Olympic torch along the official route on Tuesday.

The torch arrived in Delhi from Pakistan in the early hours of this morning, and was taken to an undisclosed location as Indian police closed down the city centre to prepare for the parade.

The Indian Olympic Association said that members of the public can watch the torch parade from the extensive lawns either side of Rajtath, the wide ceremonial avenue leading from the palace to India Gate. Because of security concerns the IOA did not announce what time the parade was starting until this morning, in a bid to wrongfoot the protesters.

All Metro stations and roads in the surrounding area have been shut down, and more than 15,000 security personnel have been deployed to police the short, 1.8 mile route.

By comparison, Britain fielded fewer than 3,000 police along the torch's 31 mile route through London.

The number of the controversial, blue-tracksuited Chinese security officials guarding the torch have been cut down to two, after questions were raised about their legal status.

Thousands of Tibetan exiles marched through Delhi earlier this morning to protest against Chinese policies in their homeland, hours before the Olympic torch was due to be paraded through the city.

Chanting 'Stop the killing in Tibet' and waving Tibetan flags, about 3,000 Tibetans joined the protests, along with Indian politicians, Westerners, Burmese activists and supporters of Falun Gong.

They carried a "torch for Tibet" - a traditional Tibetan butter lamp - from the Rajghat Memorial in eastern Delhi to makeshift Tibetan camp about a mile from the real torch relay route.

Indian police broke up the crowd as it began its march, but allowed it to reconvene at the camp despite a massive security clampdown in the city centre.

"The torch for Tibet celebrates our non-violent struggle for fundamental freedoms and persistence to seek a lasting solution to the issue of Tibet through negotiation," said a statement distributed by the organisers.

The march was organised by the Tibetan parliament in exile, based in Dharamsala in northern India, which adheres to the Dalai Lama's policy of seeking autonomy for Tibet within China, but does not advocate boycotting the Olympics.

However, many Tibetan exiles want full independence and a boycott of the torch relay and the Games.

"I am Tibetan but I have never seen my country. China does not deserve the Olympics, and India should not accept the torch," said Phuntsok, 37, who fled his home in Lhasa, the Tibetan capital, in 1988 and walked over the Himalayas to India.

Among the protesters were several hundred Indians, many of whom expressed outrage at the huge security operation surrounding the torch.

"It's unfortunate that our government is treating a symbol of peace with the power of a gun," said Vimlendu Jha, 28, an NGO worker from Delhi. He was wearing a black T-shirt which read 'Indians for a free Tibet'.

Among the other Indians in the crowd were George Fernandes, from Goa, an outspoken former defence minister from the National Democratic Alliance, and Arundhati Roy, the prize-winning novelist.

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