THE Olympic torch was carried through the streets of the Tibetan capital yesterday, cheered by crowds of Chinese residents and protected by police and paramilitary forces.

Most shops and businesses in Lhasa were shut and the ethnic Tibetan inhabitants were conspicuous by their absence along the route, witnesses said.

It was a propaganda triumph for Zhang Qingli, the head of the Communist party in Tibet, who spoke at a rally to greet the torch outside the Potala Palace, the traditional home of the exiled spiritual Tibetan leader, the Dalai Lama.

Zhang has led a crackdown on protesters since riots broke out in Lhasa on March 14 and disorder spread across the region, which has been occupied by China since 1950.

“Today’s torch relay shows the burning enthusiasm of the people,” Zhang proclaimed. He pledged he would “totally smash” what he called the “Dalai Lama clique”.

It was unclear how Zhang’s rhetoric accorded with China’s insistence that the Olympics should not be politicised.

Chinese officials said 156 torchbearers, half of them Tibetans, took turns to carry the flame. The government news agency, Xinhua, said all 2.8m Tibetans had been looking forward to the event.

Plans to stage an extended relay through Tibet were curtailed after the unrest, which set off protests around the world against Chinese policy.