Thousands of anti-Chinese demonstrators took to the streets of Delhi yesterday, foreshadowing the reception the Olympic torch is likely to receive when it reaches India next week.

Demonstrators carried placards accusing China of cultural genocide in Tibet, and 154 shrouded effigies, which they said represented compatriots killed in a crackdown in Lhasa, the Tibetan capital. Chinese authorities claim that 22 people died in the riots that broke out a month ago.

The Indian authorities are braced for further protests after disruptions in London, Paris and San Francisco. Fears are mounting that the demonstrations will take a gruesome turn in India, the base for Tibet’s Government in exile. Police say that they are ready for the possibility that Tibetans will set themselves on fire in front of the world’s media. “The potential for acts of self-immolation cannot be dismissed,” one senior officer told The Times.

In a sign of growing international unrest over China’s conduct in Tibet, the European Parliament raised the prospect of a boycott by EU leaders of the Olympics’ opening ceremony if China does not meet the Dalai Lama, Tibet’s exiled leader. The US House of Representatives has passed a resolution asking China to enter talks.

Speaking in Delhi, where the Olympic torch is due to arrive next Thursday, Samdhong Rinpoche, the prime minister of the Tibetan government-in-exile, said that he was still hopeful of a peaceful settlement with China, but only if Beijing softened its line. “If they are wise enough, some path for reconciliation might be opened,” he said.

In a suggestion that China has admitted its inability to quash unrest, the path the torch will take on May 2 in Hong Kong, its first stop in the host nation, is thought likely to be curtailed “to avoid embarrassing scenes”.

China said yesterday that it had uncovered a plot by terrorists to kidnap athletes and visitors at the Beijing Olympics and carry out suicide bombings. Security forces in the western Xinjiang region had uncovered two criminal rings and arrested 45 people found to be in possession of dynamite and “jihadist” literature, the Ministry of Public Security said.

One “violent terrorist gang” of 35 people, led by Abdulrahman Tuersun, had been arrested between March 26 and April 6, Wu Heping, the ministry spokesman, said. “They wanted to make a global impact to sabotage the Beijing Olympics. We face a real terrorist threat,” he said.

China has portrayed the insurgency as being linked to terrorist organisations in Central Asia and the Middle East. Police confiscated almost 10kg (22lbs) of explosive material, dynamite, detonators and jihadist literature in Urumqi, Xinjiang’s capital. Police said that both groups were acting on orders from the East Turkestan Islamic Movement.

Another ten people, arrested in a raid on a housing complex in Urumqi in January, had been manufacturing explosives and were plotting remote-control bombings, poisonings and poison gas attacks in Shanghai, Beijing and other cities, the official said.

However, an AFP journalist visited the apartment blocks last week and interviewed several residents who said that they had no knowledge of the violent clash in which police said two of the gang were killed and 15 captured.

The Ministry called for public vigilance but did not explain why it had decided to go public with a threat to the Olympics that could scare away some foreign visitors.

Danger spots

April 13, Dar es Salaam May raise the issue of Chinese investment in Sudan

April 17, Delhi Self-immolation by exiled Tibetan monks would be a PR disaster

April 24, Canberra Australia’s opposition sports spokesman has urged protesters to line the route

May 2, Hong Kong Protesters could hijack one of the last stops before the torch enters mainland China

Source: Times database