Olympic Flame Changes Course in Indonesia

JAKARTA, Indonesia — Torchbearers ran laps with the Olympic flame in front of an invitation-only crowd yesterday after officials changed the relay route from Jakarta's streets to a sports stadium amid pressure from China to keep away demonstrators.

Police arrested several protesters rallying nearby and seized Tibetan flags and banners in the latest actions against a global relay that Beijing had hoped would promote the August 8-24 Olympics.

Criticism of China's human rights record has turned the relay into one of the most contentious in recent history. Anti-Chinese protests have dogged stops in Greece, Paris, London, and San Francisco.

Countries have responded by sharply modifying routes and boosting security. Indonesia deployed water cannons and 3,000 police officers in the capital.

The staged event in Jakarta was not televised live, apparently because no broadcaster was prepared to pay for the rights.

The 5,000 people who gathered at the Bung Karno Stadium to welcome the Olympic flame under dark, rainy skies were mostly government officials, flag-waving Chinese nationals working in the city, students, and people invited by corporate sponsors.

"I am excited to witness history," Andrea Putri, 15, said. "This kind of thing does not happen every day."

A handful of others were turned away from the stadium grounds, and the event was mostly ignored in the city of 12 million. The Olympics are not very popular in Indonesia, the only country where the 2004 Athens Games were not televised.

Hours before the torch arrived, about 100 demonstrators held a rally and police briefly detained several of them, including a Dutch national identified as Stef Bolte.

"I am completely peaceful," he told the Associated Press as he was escorted away by officers. "I am protesting human rights violations in Tibet."

China is altering plans for media coverage of the Olympic flame's ascent of Mount Everest, with officials saying yesterday that harsh weather is making reporting conditions difficult.

The changes, in effect, mean that foreign reporters would likely spend only 10 days overall in Tibet — about half the time initially planned.