China vows to 'smash' Dalai Lama

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China vows to 'smash' Dalai Lama
By China correspondent Stephen Mcdonell and wires

Posted 5 hours 7 minutes ago
Updated 4 hours 47 minutes ago


China has used the Tibet Olympic torch relay to attack the Dalai Lama. (Reuters/Kyodo)

Related Story: Riot police patrol Tibetan streets ahead of torch relay Related Story: Olympic torch relay starts in Tibet The Olympic torch relay has finished in Tibet with Government officials vowing to smash the Dalai Lama.

Amid tight security, the torch arrived in front of Potala Palace, the Dalai Lama's former chief residence, carried by Caidan Zhuoma, a famous Tibetan singer.

Local Government officials used the event to attack the Tibetan spiritual leader.

"Tibet's sky will never change and the red flag with five stars will forever flutter high above it," Tibet's hardline Communist Party Secretary General Zhang Qing Li said at the relay ceremony.

"We will certainly be able to totally smash the splittist schemes of the Dalai Lama clique."

As paramilitary police kept a close watch, the flame from the torch was mixed with the special flame that was carried to the top of Mount Everest during an earlier leg of the lengthy relay.

The crowds today were small and specially selected, with most locals told to stay in doors until after the relay.

The entire event, scheduled to last for three hours, ended after less than two. No immediate explanation was given for the shortened period.

The area was cordoned off to everyone except those given special passes to attend the relay, according to a photographer on the scene.