London: A London-based Indian is among eight persons arrested during the official flame-lighting ceremony for the Beijing Olympics in Greece for allegedly trying to disrupt the event in support of Tibet's pro-independence movement, a media report in London said.
One of the eight arrested persons was an unnamed Indian tourist who had come from London and he was taken into custody on suspicion of planning a pro-Tibetan incident, The Daily Telegraph reported on its online edition on Tuesday.
It said first two arrested protesters were activists of the French group Reporters Without Borders. They managed to breach the cordon of about 1,000 police officers and ran behind the Beijing Olympic Organising Committee chief, Liu Qi, who was reading his speech on Monday.
They unfurled a black flag showing the Olympic rings in the form of handcuffs.
One of them was later identified as Tengon Dorgee, a member of the Free Tibet Student Movement.
Greek state television cut its live broadcast to an image away from the protest.
China's state broadcaster also quickly turned away the camera from the protesters.
The police said another Tibetan couple was arrested after it laid down on the road in front of the second carrier of the flame, a Chinese athlete, outside the stadium.
They had painted their bodies in red to denote blood.
Two Tibetans were arrested for unfurling a Tibetan flag and a black banner from a balcony above the route taken by the torch-bearers. Another Tibetan was taken into custody on suspicion that he was planning to set himself ablaze.
The region's police chief, Major Thanasis Spyropoulos, said a prosecutor would decide whether the eight would be put on trial on charges of causing public disorder - carrying a maximum six-month prison term - or whether they would be set free without being tried.
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