The Olympic torch made a strange and lonely procession through central Delhi on Thursday, with the event so comprehensively overshadowed by fears of the anti-Chinese protests that had marred its appearances in other cities that no members of the public were allowed close enough to witness it.

The 70-odd Indian athletes and celebrities who carried the torch down Delhi's widest avenue were outnumbered by thousands of watchful members of India's security forces, who managed to stamp out any pomp and excitement, transforming the occasion instead into a tense security operation rather than a celebration.

Because this kind of required response makes China look better than either dealing with the protests, or just cancelling the torch.