Ugly clashes mar Olympic torch's London leg

LONDON: Clashes between anti-China protesters and police marred the Beijing Olympic torch's parade in the British capital on Sunday with angry Tibetans trying to put out the flame as it began its European leg.
    
Police arrested over two dozen protesters who tried to board the bus carrying the torch from the Wembley stadium and even attempted to snatch the torch from a BBC presenter Konnie Huq after dodging the heavy police cordon on the 50-km route.
    
In a last minute change of plan, Chinese Ambassador Fu Ying, who was expected to carry the torch near the Chinese Embassy in London's Bloomsbury Square, jogged through Chinatown and handed over the flame without any disruption.
      
Former Olympic rower Steve Redgrave kicked-off the relay that began at Wembley and protesters were arrested as he handed over the flame to a teenaged girl.
    
Tibet groups had threatened to disrupt the torch relay in protest against China's crackdown in Tibet following the most vicious monks-led protests against its rule in two decades.
    
Protesters who are demanding a boycott of the games had disrupted the traditional torch lighting ceremony in Olympia, Greece, last month. Metropolitan Police said 2,000 officers were mobilised to maintain order along the route of the relay.
    
Braving unseasonal snow and chilly weather, hundreds of people including sizeable number of pro-Tibetan campaigners lined up the route as the torch passed through several landmarks in the city, which will host the 2012 Olympics.
     
Scuffles broke out along the route as hundreds of campaigners chanting "Free Tibet" protested against China's human rights record and actions in Tibet ahead of Beijing Olympics which are slated to start on August 8.
      
British Prime Minister Gordon Brown resisted calls of bycott saying the exiled Tibetan leader Dalai Lama was opposed to such action.

"It is also important to recognise, when you ask the question about the Olympic torch, that the Dalai Lama himself has said that he does not want to see a boycott of the Olympics," Brown said on Saturday.
    
The torch which was flown into London on Saturday from St. Petersburg in Russia will move to Paris on Monday where authorities have also deployed massive security for the relay.
    
China has been facing criticism over its handling of the Tibet issue with the western countries pilling pressure on it to open talks with the Dalai Lama.
    
French Prime Minister Nicolas Sarkozy on Saturday became the first leader to openly threaten Beijing with a boycott of the Olympics opening ceremony unless it opens dialogue with the monk.
    
But France's Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner, who was quoted by Le Monde on Saturday as issuing the warning, has insisted that no conditions had been set for Sarkozy's attendance but added that all options were still on the table related to the Games.
    
China has accused the Dalai Lama of trying to sabotage the Olympics to focus world's attention on the Tibet issue, a charge denied by the Tibetan spiritual leader.
    
Police in hundreds provided a protective ring around the torch as it was carried by bus, foot, boat and light railway past some of London's most iconic sights.
    
Beijing claimed that Dalai supporters were plotting new "sabotage activities" in the restive Tibet region and asked the officials in the Himalayan region not to spare any effort to thwart attempts to disrupt the ascent of the Olympic Torch Relay to the Mount Everest.
    
Among those who took part in the relay include ten Olympic champions, 18 schoolchildren and public figures such as news reader Sir Trevor McDonald and musician Vanessa Mae.
   
The torch's global tour is the longest in Olympic history and is meant to highlight China's growing economic and political power. But it has also offered protest groups abundant opportunity to draw attention to their concerns.
   
The torch relay is expected to face more demonstrations in Paris, San Francisco, New Delhi and possibly elsewhere during its 21-stop, six-continent tour before reaching mainland China on May 4.