Fed: Torch bearer pulls out of Canberra torch relay

AAP General News (Australia)
04-21-2008
Fed: Torch bearer pulls out of Canberra torch relay

SYDNEY, April 21 AAP - A torch bearer has pulled out of Thursday's Olympic torch relay
in Canberra, citing human rights concerns.

Social justice advocate Lin Hatfield Dodds, the ACT Australian of the Year, said it
was a difficult decision.

"Choosing not to run is making a very clear and unambiguous statement, I hope, on behalf
of myself but also on behalf of the Uniting Church and ACOSS that we will always choose
to stand with those who are the least and those who are the most vulnerable," Ms Hatfield
Dodds told SBS.

Ms Hatfield Dodds, the president of the Australian Council of Social Service (ACOSS)
and national director of UnitingCare Australia, said she still supported the Olympics.

But she said the symbolism of the torch relay had changed.

"The meaning's changed with the kind of activities that are happening with China and
Tibet," she said.

A strengthened force of hundreds of police will guard the torch on Thursday when it
winds through Canberra's streets and past national landmarks like Parliament House, forcing
organisers to double the original $900,000 security budget.

ACT Chief Minister Jon Stanhope has asked the federal government for extra money to
cover the cost of protecting the Beijing Games torch relay from pro-Tibetan protests,
which have dogged its progress elsewhere.

Organisers say the route could be changed at the last minute if protests get out of control.

AAP mn/srp/mn

KEYWORD: OLY08 FLAME HATFIELD

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