Greece handing over the Olympic Flame to Beijing March 28, 2008
Posted by grhomeboy in HMN>OlympicGames.Tags: athens, Beijing, China, HMN>Greece, HMN>OlympicGames, Olympic Flame, Olympic Spirit, Olympic Truce, Thessaloniki, Tibet
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More than 2,000 officers to watch over Panathenaic Stadium Ceremony
Police will deploy more than 2,000 officers in Athens this weekend to supervise the handover of the Beijing Olympics Flame to Chinese organizers. The move came after protests against Chinese rule in Tibet disrupted the launch of the Games torch relay in Ancient Olympia on Monday.
A ceremony to mark the handing over of the Olympic flame will be held at Panathenaic Stadium in central Athens on Saturday in front of an estimated 20,000 people. Yesterday a small group of protesters unfurled pro-Tibet banners in Thessaloniki ahead of the flame’s arrival in the northern city.
The Panathenaic, or as it is locally called The Kallimarmaro due to its all marble structure, stadium is where the first Olympic Games were held in April 1896. It is situated close to the Ardettos Hill, in central Athens, within walking distance from the Acropolis and the Olympian Zeus Columns.
