It was trumpeted as a colourful, public celebration of the Olympic ideal - but today's torch relay through Delhi was so heavily guarded against Tibetan protesters that members of the public were completely blocked from the event.

Indian police turned the normally frenetic city centre into a ghost town, closing down access to the entire torch route and all of the surrounding roads and Metro stations to prevent demonstrations by the world’s biggest community of Tibetan exiles.

More than 15,000 police personnel were deployed around the route, which had already been reduced from six miles to just 1.8 miles for security reasons. By comparison, Britain had fielded fewer than 3,000 police along the torch's 31 mile route through London.

India is home to some 120,000 Tibetan refugees, including the Dalai Lama, and authorities anxious to improve relations with Beijing wanted to ensure that chaotic protests like those seen in Paris and London did not mar the event.

As a result, the Indian leg of the relay became the only one in the world so far to take place with no public participation whatsoever.

The 70 torch-bearers – including sports and Bollywood stars -- ran little more than 40 metres each as the torch moved along the deserted Rajpath avenue from the imposing presidential palace to Indian Gate, an arched war memorial.

When it reached at India Gate, the only spectators were a group of 50 Chinese expatriates and embassy staff waving flags and a group of about 200 schoolchildren, bussed in by Samsung and Coca Cola, the Olympic sponsors.

At least half the seats were empty as the torch arrived, carried by the Indian tennis star, Leander Paes, and surrounded by a dozen Indian police commandos in tracksuits – as well as five Chinese paramilitary guards.

A few hundred Tibetan exiles tried to break through the outer layers of the security cordon during the relay, but were easily overwhelmed by the hordes of Indian police, who said they had arrested 180 people trying to approach the torch route.

The radical Tibetan Youth Congress, which advocates independence and reserves the right to use violence, said that 230 of its 300 protesters had been arrested trying to make a run towards Rajpath.

Kunchok Yangphel, a TYC leader, told The Times that some of them had been dressed as cameramen and had been pretending to be South Korean reporters.

“We tried our best, but the security was too much,” he said. “India has given into the pressure from the Chinese government.”

A further 54 Tibetans were detained in Bombay after a group of protesters attempted to storm the Chinese consulate in the heart of the city's commercial district.

Faced by the huge security operation, thousands of Tibetan exiles had to be satisfied with holding their own, unofficial torch relay a few hours before the official gathering.

About 3,000 Tibetans marched through the capital in a parallel event to protest against Chinese policies in their homeland, in particular its crackdown last month on anti-Chinese rioting.

"China’s torch is a flame of shame," read one of their banners.

"There cannot be any games without Tibet. Bring Tibet to the games," said Tenzing Khentssin, dressed in a white "Torch 4 Tibet" T-shirt as he marched with the chanting crowd, surrounded by hundreds of police.

Among the other Indians in the crowd were George Fernandes, an outspoken former Defence Minister, and Arundhati Roy, the prize-winning novelist.

Meanwhile, in Nepal, police said that more than 500 Tibetan exiles had been detained in Kathmandu, the capital city, after protesting outside the Chinese Embassy.

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