The ceremony in Beijing, where the torch arrived Monday, was conducted amid tight security and with careful planning.

At Tiananmen Square, scene of the 1989 crackdown on the pro-democracy movement, Chinese President Hu Jintao spoke only one line -- "I now declare the launch of the torch relay for the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games," The New York Times (NYSE:NYT) reported.

One of the stops for the torch over the next 130 days will be Lhasa, the Tibetan capital where the protests, which have now spread across the world, began last month.

The Chinese crackdown in Lhasa have only encouraged rights groups to plan protests in different cities on the torch's world relay and likely inside China, the Times reported.

The Independent reported Tuesday despite all the efforts to conduct a trouble-free games, the Tibetan unrest has posed a major public relations challenge to Beijing before the games begin.

"The crackdown on activists has deepened, not lessened, because of the Olympics," the British newspaper quoted Irene Khan with the Amnesty International as saying. "Unless urgent steps are taken to redress the situation, a positive human rights' legacy for the Beijing Olympics looks increasingly beyond reach."