Olympic torch arrives in Argentina for next leg of relay
Friday, 11 Apr 2008 19:48
The Olympic torch has arrived in Argentina's capital Buenos Aires
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Small-scale protests have been witnessed as the Olympic torch makes its way through Argentina's capital Buenos Aires in the latest leg of its global journey.
On the whole however the scene has been much calmer than authorities had feared.
Several thousand police officers have been lined along the 8 mile route through the Argentinean city with authorities hoping to avoid the scenes witnessed in London, Paris and San Francisco.
Worldwide demonstrators are using the Olympic torch relay as an opportunity to protest against China's handling of recent unrest in Tibet as well as its human rights record.
Leading up to today's relay the torch had been hidden in a secret location somewhere within the capital city.
Authorities did suffer a minor set-back early on though with famous footballer Diego Maradona failing to arrive in time to carry the flame.
Today's visit to Buenos Aires is the only stop the torch is making in South America as it makes its way round 22 countries and 5 continents before the opening ceremony of the Beijing Olympics on August 8th.
Protestors earlier claimed that they were planning on disrupting the relay with "entertaining surprises".
The flame was quickly loaded onto a bus and driven away after arriving from San Francisco on Thursday, with its hiding location being described as a "state secret".