Tibetans light freedom torch in Alps, want Olympic ascent of Everest stopped

  A group of Tibetan exiles carried a "freedom torch" into the Alps on Friday and lit it below the Matterhorn peak in protest against China.

A global torch relay organized by Tibetan groups chose the 4,500-metre Matterhorn as a symbolic tribute to Mount Everest. The world's highest peak, which straddles the border between Tibet and neighbouring Nepal, is a holy site for Tibetan Buddhists. The official Olympic torch for the 2008 Beijing games is to be carried to Everest in early May en route to the Chinese capital for the Aug. 8 opening ceremony.

"There is no need to take this torch on to Everest," Tibetan spokesman Wangpo Tethong told The Associated Press in a telephone interview.

Organizers from more than 150 pro-Tibet groups worldwide want the International Olympic Committee to divert the route of the official torch relay, which has been a focus of violent protests on its five-month journey across six continents from Ancient Olympia in Greece to Beijing.

They want Tibetan autonomy from Beijing and say allowing the Olympic torch on Everest supports China's territorial claims.

"The IOC could send a strong signal to Beijing by not allowing the torch relay through Tibet. It is something small but it would have a big impact and meaning for Tibetans," Tethong said.

However, the IOC repeated its support for the official torch relay Thursday at a meeting of its Athletes' Commission.

"The torch relay, which heralds the games, and symbolizes our values and dreams, has not had the peaceful passage it deserves. We do not want to see it mistreated nor exploited," it said in a statement.

The unofficial Tibetan torch was also lighted at Olympia, on March 10, the day Chinese government forces began cracking down on activists in the Tibetan capital Lhasa and western regions of China. The government says 22 people were killed; Tibetan groups claim hundreds died.

The Tibetan relay is spending five days in Switzerland, and will be re-lit Saturday at a demonstration in front of the Swiss federal parliament in Bern. It arrives Tuesday at IOC headquarters in Lausanne before moving on to Copenhagen, Denmark.