The torch was originally supposed to be taken to the Olympic Stadium on Sunday but this was done on Saturday instead.
Organisers in Greece have repeatedly changed the Beijing torch relay's passage through Athens over the last few days as sporadic protests by groups protesting against China's human rights record increase.
On March 24, the flame-lighting ceremony in Olympia, southwest Greece, was disrupted by three members of the Reporters Without Borders press freedom group, and Tibetan protesters later staged a street protest in Olympia despite a massive security cordon around the small town.
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"Our intention is not to stop people from demonstrating but to avoid having an incident that disrupts the torch relay."
Tassos Papachristou,
Hellenic Olympic Committee spokesman |
As the flame entered Athens on Saturday, a few dozen members of Tibetan human rights groups and Falungong, a spiritual movement outlawed in China, staged a peaceful protest beneath the Acropolis against the Chinese clampdown in Tibet and the holding of the Olympics in Beijing in August.
"Our intention is not to stop people from demonstrating but to avoid having an incident that disrupts the torch relay," Papachristou said.
A police convoy and a guard of runners has accompanied the flame on a seven-day jouney through Greece.
Media were banned from the Acropolis where the flame spent Saturday night.
A crowd of around 20,000 people are expected at the formal handover at Athens' Panathinaiko Stadium later Sunday, and they will be searched with all banners, signs or objects that could be thrown to be confiscated, according to police.