Olympic torch paraded through Tibet

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No disruptions were reported, although the mood overall was far more subdued than at the torch's earlier stops in cities in China proper.

The torch next travels to neighboring Qinghai province, also hit this spring by protests in Tibetan-dominated areas, before gradually winding its way across northern China toward Beijing on Aug. 8. The Tibetan leg was cut from three days to one, ostensibly to make way for an Aug. 3-5 visit to Sichuan province, the center of a May 12 earthquake that killed nearly 70,000 people.

Lhasa, which has been under a security lockdown since the March riots, all but closed down for the relay, with streets deserted and shops closed. A security cordon was thrown around central Potala Square, with costumed performers taking the place of Buddhist pilgrims who visit to turn prayer wheels and prostrate themselves in front of the hillside palace, the traditional home of Tibetan rulers which is now a museum.

Waiting for the torch's arrival at its final stop in the vast plaza, resident Yongzong Tsering blamed the March riots for the low-key mood, repeating Beijing's claims that the protests were orchestrated by exile groups loyal to the Dalai Lama, the region's traditional Buddhist leader.

"The separatists want to make Tibet independent and they use this Olympic torch occasion to disrupt our nation's unity," he said. "So because of the March 14th riots in Tibet, that's why the mood today is somewhat different."

Officers lined the route through the historic city at intervals of as little as 10 feet, while badge wearing onlookers, who had been carefully screened and individually approved beforehand, waved flags and chanted "Go China."

A few dozen foreign reporters given special permission to cover the Lhasa leg were required to travel in a closely guarded convoy. They were only allowed to cover the opening and closing portions, isolating them from contact with ordinary residents.

Almost all foreign visitors have been banned from the region since the protests, hamstringing the local tourism industry.

The roughly six-mile run began at Norbulingka, the Dalai Lama's former summer palace from which the Tibetan Buddhist leader fled into exile in 1959. The relay also saw the main torch reunited with a separate one carried to the top of Mount Everest, with just under half of the 156 runners ethnic Tibetan, the official Xinhua News Agency said.

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