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Protesters scuffle with police
06/04/2008 16:21 - (SA)
London - Police repeatedly scuffled with protesters as Olympians and dignitaries carried the Olympic torch through snowy London during a chaotic relay on Sunday.
Demonstrators tried to board a relay bus after five-time Olympic gold medallist rower Steve Redgrave launched procession at Wembley Stadium - presaging a number of clashes with police along the torch's 50km journey.
There had been 30 arrests, Metropolitan Police said.
In west London, a protester tried to grab the torch out of the hands of a TV presenter, forcing police to briefly stop the procession as officers detained the man. Another demonstrator tried to snuff out the flame with what appeared to be a fire extinguisher. Others in the crowd threw themselves at torchbearers running past in official Beijing 2010 Olympics tracksuits. Last-minute change of plan
British Prime Minister Gordon Brown briefly greeted the torch when it arrived outside his Downing Street residence as pro-Tibet demonstrators and police clashed yards away near Britain's Parliament buildings.
Demonstrators swelled in number near the spot where Chinese Ambassador Fu Ying had been expected to carry the Olympic torch, forcing a last-minute change of plan. Fu emerged with flame in the heart of London's Chinatown instead and managed to jog unhindered before handing over the torch to the next participant in the relay.
In London's historic Bloomsbury area, police separated anti-China protesters from hundreds of flag-waving Chinese who turned out to support their nation and the Olympics.
Brown allowed the flame to arrive outside his Downing Street office, but never handled the torch. Instead, he watched as Olympic gold medallist Denise Lewis handed it to Paralympic hopeful Ali Jawad. Mob tried to snatch torch
Seventeen-year-old student Scott Earley jnr, from Glasgow, Scotland, carried the torch from Downing Street, needing help from dozens of police to keep baying mobs from snatching the torch as he ran past Big Ben to Westminster Bridge.
"Everyone was running at you. It was a bit weird," Earley said. "The police had it covered. They told me when to go and what to do."
Activists demonstrating against China's human rights record and a recent crackdown on Tibet have been protesting along the torch route since the start of the flame's 140 000km odyssey from Ancient Olympia in Greece to Beijing, host of the 2008 Summer Olympics.
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.
- AP
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