STAGE IS SET: President of the Greek Olympic committee Minos Kyriakou (right) handing over the torch to Chinese Olympic committee head Liu Qi at the Panathenian stadium in Athens yesterday. -- PHOTO: AFP

The ceremony was held at the marble Panathenian stadium where the first modern Olympics were staged in 1896.

Outside the stadium, police scuffled with pro-Tibet demonstrators.

The protesters chanted 'Save Tibet' and unfurled a banner which read 'Stop Genocide in Tibet'.

They challenged a police cordon but failed to disrupt the final leg of Greece's torch relay - from the Acropolis to the stadium.

Twenty-one demonstrators were detained - seven Indians, one Nepalese and 13 Greeks - and were all due to be released without charge, police said.

Hundreds of police had lined the flame's route, scores of security vehicles followed the torch bearers and helicopters hovered overhead - the strictest security measures since torch relays were launched at the 1936 Berlin Olympics.

Yesterday, the final run through the Greek city was cut short hours before the flame's delivery to Chinese officials.

Police security was also tight inside the stadium, following small protests by pro-Tibet and human rights groups at the March 24 flame-lighting ceremony and during the week-long Greek leg of the torch relay.

At yesterday's ceremony, Hellenic Olympic committee president Minos Kyriakou delivered the flame to Mr Liu Qi, president of the Beijing Olympic Games organising committee.

The flame will arrive in Beijing today.

'In 130 days, the 2008 Beijing Olympics begin. We and the other nations of the world look forward to this moment,' said Mr Liu, before accepting the flame. The Games run from Aug 8 to 24.

Mr Liu, who is also the powerful Beijing boss of the Chinese Communist Party, said: 'The torch will for the first time ascend the summit of the world (Mount Everest), thereby testifying to the great strength of the Olympic movement in marking the progress of human civilisation.'

Mr Kyriakou called for the flame to be respected during its journey.

'I hope the world community welcomes the flame and honours it, showing the same feeling and necessary respect (as Greeks do),' he said.

About 7,000 Greek and Chinese spectators inside the Panathenian stadium watched as Greek triple jumper Hrysopigi Devetzi carried the torch into the stadium lined with Greek and Chinese flags. Greek presidential guards and actresses dressed as ancient priestesses looked on.

Protests had marred the relay within Greece. Demonstrators lay on the ground in front of vehicles accompanying the flame in Olympia and the northern city of Thessaloniki, holding up the runners several times.

Greek officials condemned the protests and said the Olympic flame should not be politicised.

Greece's Foreign Press Association and photojournalists' union said, however, the heavy security measures breached the fundamental right to inform.

International media were banned from covering the flame's arrival at the Acropolis.

After its arrival in Beijing today, the flame will be taken around the globe and across China on a 130-day relay spanning 137,000km.

ASSOCIATED PRESS, REUTERS, AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE