Olympia (Greece) (AFP)

The Olympic flame for the Beijing Winter Games (February 4-20, 2022) was lit at the ancient Greek site of Olympia on Monday, a ceremony briefly disrupted by protesters who unfurled a Tibetan flag before being arrested.

"No Genocide Games" also proclaimed a banner barely unfolded by these demonstrators, arrested by a security employee, according to an AFP photographer.

The flame was lit shortly after 12:00 local time (09:00 GMT) by the rays of a radiant sun on the ruins of the ancient temple of Hera in Olympia, cradle of the Games of Antiquity, in the absence of the public because of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Only Thomas Bach, President of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), President of the Hellenic Republic Katerina Sakellaropoulou, representatives of the Greek and Chinese Olympic Committees and accredited journalists were present.

For the second time in a row, after the Tokyo Olympics, and the third in the history of the modern Olympics, the traditional ceremony was held behind closed doors due to the global health crisis.

Before this pandemic, the flame was only lit behind closed doors in 1984, when Greek organizers wanted to protest against the commercial nature of the Los Angeles Olympics.

Several actresses dressed in the long, light and pleated dresses of the former priestesses performed a choreography in the ancient stadium on Monday before the torch was lit.

- "Boycott Beijing 2022" -

Also dressed as a former Greek priestess, actress Xanthi Georgiou lit the flame in a traditional way, thanks to the rays of the sun passing through a parabolic mirror.

"In these difficult times that we still live in, the Beijing 2022 Olympic Winter Games will be an important moment to bring the world together in a spirit of peace, friendship and solidarity," said IOC President Thomas Bach.

The torch lighting ceremony for the 2008 Beijing Olympics had already been disrupted in Olympia by Reporters Without Borders (RSF) activists.

The Greek skier Ioannis Antoniou receives the flame and an olive branch from the hands of actress Xanthi Georgiou, disguised as a priestess, at the ancient site of the games in Olympia, October 18, 2021 ARIS MESSINIS AFP

Once again, calls for a boycott of the Beijing Games and protests around the issue of human rights in China, particularly concerning the Uyghur minority but also in Hong Kong, have multiplied in recent weeks.

On Sunday, three Tibetan activists had already been arrested at the Acropolis in Athens after waving the Tibetan flag and that of the "Hong Kong revolution" at the top of the Acropolis, chanting "Boycott Beijing 2022" and "Free it. Tibet".

They will appear Monday afternoon before the Athens prosecutor's office, according to a judicial source.

On Tuesday, a press conference will be organized in an Athens hotel by Tibetan and Uyghur representatives and human rights experts to "denounce the profound failure of the International Olympic Committee as the Olympic flame, symbol of peace and hope, is postponed to Beijing 2022 ".

Thomas Bach for his part called for "more solidarity within societies".

- Flight Tuesday to Beijing -

"As the global coronavirus pandemic has clearly shown, we can only meet the many challenges of this world in solidarity. (...) There is no peace without solidarity," he said. added.

The flame was carried by the first torchbearer, the Greek skier Giannis Antoniou, followed by the Chinese Li Jiajun, five times Olympic champion in speed skating.

Greece's Vasilis Papavassiliou - a local athlete - will be the last to carry the torch on Monday in the village of Olympia, as organizers decided the relay would be "shorter than in the recent past".

Former Chinese Olympic champion Li Jiajun participates in the Olympic torch relay during a closed-door ceremony at the ancient site of Olympus, October 18, 2021 ARIS MESSINIS AFP

Contrary to tradition, the organizers had warned that there would be "no torch relay on Greek soil" and that the flame would be transferred directly to Athens to spend the night from Monday to Tuesday at the Acropolis, before being handed over to the Chinese organizers.

In March 2020, for the Tokyo Olympics, the crowd flocked without precaution to cheer Hollywood actors on the Sparta relay, where the flame's route had been interrupted for health reasons.

After a night in the shade of the Sacred Rock, the flame of the Beijing Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games will be delivered in record time to the Chinese organizers: in less than 24 hours, it will be transmitted to the Beijing-2022 committee during a ceremony without an audience Tuesday at 12:00 (9:00 GMT) at the Panathenaic Stadium in Athens, before flying to Beijing.

© 2021 AFP