Apr 18, 2008, 8:56 GMT
Tokyo - A Buddhist temple in the central Japanese city of Nagano withdrew Friday as the starting venue of the Japanese leg of the Olympic torch relay in protest of China's suppression of the Tibetan people, a temple spokeswoman said.
Zenkoji Temple, the city's main landmark, had been slated to also host an opening ceremony April 26 for the torch run.
The city government on Friday accepted the monks' wish to pull out. Major changes were now expected to be made to the 18.5-kilometre run in Japan, where 80 athletes were to carry the torch.
'[The Chinese government] is suppressing Tibet's religious leaders who stood up [to protest China's rule over Tibet],' Shinsho Wakaomi of the Zenkoji Temple said at a press conference. 'We came to this decision as a Buddhist temple.'
Another monk was quoted by Jiji Press as saying, 'We have the strong feeling that we are the same Buddhists as the Tibetan people.'
The city decided to respect the temple's decision, said the city's torch relay committee chairman, Kunihiko Shinohara.
Safety concerns were also part of the temple's decision to pull out of the relay, Wakaomi said.
Concerned over possible protests, Nagano prefectural police and special forces have increased their number of security officers to about 2,800 for the relay.
Three sponsors - the Coca Cola Japan Co, Lenovo Japan Ltd and Samsung Japan Corp - had earlier decided to cancel the dispatch of their commercial vehicles to accompany the runners.
The companies cited tight security and cost as reasons to pull out.
Nagano, which hosted the 1998 Winter Olympics, earlier had cancelled an Olympic-related event to be held next week, mainly so it could strengthen security and management of the torch run.
The event at a park was to feature photo sessions with the Olympic torch, music performances and sales of Olympic-related goods.
The organizers' decision to cancel the event followed demonstrations and protests during the torch run in London, Paris, San Francisco and New Dehli.
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