leader George Fernandes and author Arundhati Roy will join hundreds of Tibetans in a torch relay parallel to the Olympic flame run here on Thursday. The five-kilometre parallel relay will begin from Rajghat, the memorial of Mahatma Gandhi, and end at Jantar Mantar with the organisers expecting participation of about 5,000 people.

Apart from Fernandes and Roy, senior politicians like Yashwant Sinha, Jaya Jaitley and activists Vandana Shiva and Swami Agnivesh are likely to join the relay, organisers claimed. "The official relay has little spirit of Olympics as it is being organised under extreme security.

So we decided to live up to the original spirit of Olympics and organise a parallel run," Tseten Norbu, spokesperson of Tibetan Solidarity Committee, which is organising the protest here, told PTI. The relay is planned as a non-violent protest against Chinese "aggression" in their homeland and fight for their rights, he said.

When the relay reaches Jantar Mantar, he said, the protesters will turn the area into a "Little Tibet" by putting up tents, replicas of yaks and flowers and have religious congregation. "Through this, we will create a little Tibet in the heart of the city," Norbu claimed.

Meanwhile, 27 Tibetans managed to take out their own "torch relay" on the route of the Olympic flame run here this afternoon before entering into a minor clash with police as they attempted to douse the flame.

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