BRITAIN:THE OLYMPIC torch relay through London descended into chaos yesterday as 36 people were arrested during fierce anti-China protests which forced police to make changes to the journey, shield the torch in a bus and wrestle the flame from the hands of a protester.
Thousands of people took part in the demonstrations, making the torch's 31-mile journey through the city the most disruptive leg of the Olympic "journey of harmony" round the world.
Campaigners complained of heavy-handed police tactics as officers were seen pulling down Tibetan flags, barging bystanders away from the torch route, threatening arrest under anti-terrorist legislation and telling protesters to remove "Free Tibet" T-shirts.
From the outset, the flame was flanked by a mobile protective "ring" of specialist Metropolitan police officers and a dozen Chinese security officials. They were trailed by a team of police cyclists who occasionally used their bicycles to fend off protesters, and a convoy of security, sports stars and VIPs.
About 2,000 Metropolitan police, including airborne, mounted and river units, were mobilised at an estimated cost of about £1 million, but at points along the route they seemed overstretched.
Several of the torchbearers were forced to stop as security personnel pushed away swooping protesters, and one demonstrator grabbed hold of the torch while it was being carried by television presenter Konnie Huq. He was quickly wrestled to the ground.
"While I was running with the torch, from out of nowhere a guy ran out and tried to wrestle the torch from me," Huq told Sky News. "It was quite a short skirmish. But the flame stayed alight and we carried on."
Two activists were arrested after trying to put out the torch with fire extinguishers. Martin Wyness and Ashley Darby described the relay as a propaganda campaign by China to cover its "appalling human rights record", adding: "Like many people in the UK, we feel China has no right parading the Olympic torch through London."
As the relay hit trouble, the organisers made several changes of plan. The Chinese ambassador's route was diverted through Chinatown because of protesters near the British Museum, where she had been expected to receive it.
There was also an embarrassing incident at Downing Street when Chinese security officials appeared at a photoshoot, blocking television coverage of prime minister Gordon Brown standing beside the flame.
The security strategy involved keeping protesters apart from groups waving Chinese flags. But campaigners objected to being corralled into designated "protest areas", and scuffles broke out.
A Metropolitan police spokesman said: "All I would say is we have a policing plan to make sure the torch gets around as swiftly and safely as possible. If there was something obstructing or hindering the process that would have to be dealt with by any action necessary."
Olympics minister Tessa Jowell played down suggestions the games had been tainted by the response to the protests. She said: "There are very particular reasons to do with the tension between China and Tibet and the sense of outrage among many people in this country about China's human rights record, that have given rise to the incidents that we have seen today."
- (Guardian service)