Fernandes, Arundhati to run parallel Olympic relay

Arundhati Roy will join hundreds of Tibetans in a torch relay parallel to the Olympic flame run in the Capital.

NDA leader George Fernandes and author Arundhati Roy will join hundreds of Tibetans in a torch relay parallel to the Olympic flame run in the Capital on Thursday.

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The five-kilometre parallel relay will begin from Rajghat, the memorial of Mahatma Gandhi, and end at Jantar Mantar with the organisers expecting participation of about 5,000 people.

Apart from Fernandes and Roy, senior politicians like Yashwant Sinha, Jaya Jaitley and activists Vandana Shiva and Swami Agnivesh are likely to join the relay, organisers claimed.

"The official relay has little spirit of Olympics as it is being organised under extreme security. So we decided to live up to the original spirit of Olympics and organise a parallel run," spokesperson of Tibetan Solidarity Committee, which is organising the protest, Tseten Norbu said.

The relay is planned as a non-violent protest against Chinese "aggression" in Tibet, he said.

When the relay reaches Jantar Mantar, he said, the protesters will turn the area into a "Little Tibet" by putting up tents, replicas of yaks and flowers and have religious congregation.

Meanwhile, 27 Tibetans managed to take out their own "torch relay" on the route of the Olympic flame run in the Capital on Tuesday afternoon before entering into a minor clash with police as they attempted to douse the flame.