SAYING IT IN SYDNEY: A pro-Tibet laser sign being projected on to the Sydney Harbour Bridge on Tuesday. Police arrested six people who staged protests ahead of the arrival of the Olympic flame in Canberra yesterday. -- PHOTO: REUTERS

In an unprecedented show of security, the chartered jet carrying the flame landed at an air force base in Canberra under the kind of protection usually afforded to visiting world leaders.

Local officials said security for the torch would exceed the protection given to United States President George W. Bush when he visited the Australian capital in 2003.

Barriers have been erected along the 16-km route, and more than half of the city's police force will be on patrol to prevent the disruptions that have plagued the relay in cities such as Paris and London.

The event is expected to attract thousands of pro-China supporters and pro-Tibet demonstrators.

Six people have already been arrested. They included a man and a woman who attempted to unfurl a banner and a Tibetan flag on the iconic Sydney Harbour Bridge - hours after protesters beamed laser signs on to the landmark reading 'Don't Torch Tibet'.

Four protesters who raised a pro-Tibet banner on a prominent billboard in the city's King's Cross district were also taken into custody. They were charged with trespassing and later released.

A group of Tibetan exiles on a hunger strike ended a 70-km march to Canberra yesterday and joined a candlelight vigil outside the Chinese Embassy.

Organisers have scotched plans to run the torch past the embassy, fearing that it could be a flashpoint for protesters.

Police chief Mike Phelan has stressed that Australian police alone would handle security, after Beijing Olympic Committee spokesman Qu Yingpu hinted that Chinese attendants could step in.

'All security will rest with us,' Mr Phelan said. 'I don't know if I can be any clearer than that.' He noted that Chinese security officials have no special powers of arrest or immunity from prosecution.

North Korea, a close ally of China, announced yesterday that final preparations - including street decorations - are under way for the Pyongyang leg of the relay next Monday, and that 80 runners were ready to carry the flame.

The hardline communist state has strongly criticised the pro-Tibet overseas protests during the Olympic torch relay. It promised that there will be no demonstrations during its leg of the relay.

Another controversial stop on the torch's global tour, the Mount Everest ascent, has had its media coverage scaled back.

On Tuesday, China cancelled media access to a send-off ceremony at the Everest base camp for the Chinese mountaineering team carrying the torch up the world's tallest peak,

The departure for base camp of foreign media covering the ascent was also postponed for at least four days.

Chinese officials blamed the change in plans on weather conditions and denied that it had anything to do with the recent unrest in Tibetan areas.

REUTERS, ASSOCIATED PRESS, AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE