Protesters in Australian capital for Olympic torch relay

Protesters in Australian capital for Olympic torch relay
By ROD McGUIRK, Associated Press Writer

CANBERRA, Australia - Runners carried the Olympic torch along crowd-lined streets of Australia's capital Thursday, unimpeded by pockets of protest by supporters and detractors of China's government that left several people detained.

Thousands lined the Canberra relay route on the cool and sunny autumn day as police manned crowd-control barriers and vowed that nothing would stop the torch from completing its three-hour journey.

The event began without major incident as a half-dozen officers — in jogging pants, T-shirts and baseball caps — formed a loose cordon around the runner. Overhead, an airplane sky writer wrote the words "Free Tibet" in white letters.

Minutes into the relay, a man leaped out from the crowd and sat cross-legged about 35 feet in front of the runner. Police quickly hauled him away and the runner didn't stop.

Away from the route, three Tibetan women blocked the street in front of Parliament. Police also took them away. Another protester shouted "stop killing in Tibet," and he was led off.

Police presence was heavy and security around the torch bearers tight amid organizers' concerns that chaotic demonstrations that marred the event elsewhere could be repeated.

Protests of China's human rights record and its crackdown on anti-government activists in Tibet have turned the relay into a contentious issue for the Olympic movement. Many countries have changed routes and boosted security along the flame's six-continent journey to the Aug. 8-24 games in Beijing.

People carrying Chinese flags strongly outnumbered those carrying Tibetan flags or placards criticizing Beijing's human rights record. At some places, chanting of "One China" broke out. At others, eager supporters waving Chinese banners tried to keep up with the relay.

Shortly before the start of the relay, television footage showed dozens of China supporters facing off against a group carrying blue-colored flags representing the China's Muslim minority Uighurs. Minor scuffling broke out as officials sought to separate the groups. Police said at least one person was arrested. Soon afterward, Tibetan activists set alight a Chinese flag. Police led away one person.

Security to guard the 80 torchbearers has been boosted — officials say the expense doubled in recent weeks to $1.9 million — although the several hundred police expected to be deployed is far fewer than the thousands who guarded the flame in India and Indonesia.

Pro-Tibet groups said they had expected about 500 people in Canberra for peaceful protests. In response, Chinese student groups organized bus trips from Sydney and other cities for those wanting to support the relay.

"We didn't expect this reaction from the Chinese community which is obviously a well-coordinated plan to take the day by weight of numbers," Ted Quinlan, the chief organizer of the Australia relay, told the Australian Broadcasting Corp. "We have assurances that it will be done peacefully."

Three-foot-tall crowd-control barriers lined the relay circuit, which has been shortened out of security concerns. But it still threads along a 10-mile path past Parliament House and within 200 yards of the Chinese Embassy.

"We are determined that this torch will run its full route," Police Chief Mike Phelan told reporters.

He said three Chinese torch officials allowed near the flame have no security role. Australian officials have sought to play down the role of the Chinese security team that has surrounded the flame on the relay.

There were small protests Wednesday.

In Sydney, activists unfurled a banner over a prominent billboard for relay sponsor Coca-Cola that urged China to open talks with the Dalai Lama, the exiled Tibetan leader. Police charged four people with trespassing.

Earlier, police stopped two people from unfurling a pro-Tibet banner on the Sydney Harbor Bridge. They were fined.

In Canberra, about 150 people attended a vigil outside the Chinese Embassy and spelled out "Free Tibet" with candles.

George Farley, chairman of the Australia Tibet Council, urged the crowd not to be violent, even if provoked, because it could only harm their cause.

"The world believes the cause of Tibet is moral," Farley said. "If they spit on you, just wear it. If they attack you, run away. Do not approach the Chinese, do not interact with them."

In Nepal, authorities forced an American mountaineer with a "Free Tibet" banner in his bags off Mount Everest. Chinese climbers carrying the Olympic torch plan to ascend their side of the world's tallest peak in the early days of May.

The climber, who was identified by a guide company as William Brant Holland, was caught with the banner at Everest's base camp, said Nepalese Tourism Ministry officials who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media.

The climber is the first to be stopped by soldiers and police stationed on the Nepalese side of Everest during the torch relay.

Olympic torch relay: 'thugs' blasted

Pro-Tibet protesters have reported being heavied by groups of Chinese students who were bussed to Canberra in their thousands to support this morning's Olympic torch relay in Canberra.

But relay organisers say the event was a "raging success", despite pushing and shoving and seven arrests.

One woman called Marie said she was mobbed by screaming Chinese students as she tried to watch the relay go past. She had to be rescued and escorted away by police.

Alistair Paterson, 52, from Lake George outside Canberra, said he was standing with his seven-year-old daughter on Limestone Avenue with an older couple, their teenage son and two other young women when they were attacked by a group of about 50 people draped in Chinese flags.

Mr Paterson said he was holding a "Free Tibet" banner and the older couple also had a pro-Tibet placard, which angered the group as it ran along the crowd side of the barrier.

"I got a flying kick in the leg, another bloke was hit in the head with a stick with a Chinese flag attached to it and our banners were torn down," Mr Paterson said.

"When I looked around there were three or four guys who I can only assume were Chinese who wanted to fight me.

"This gang of thugs rolled right through us and we had kids with us. My daughter was still shaking an hour later and is very quiet even now.

"I don't normally get angry but I am so angry right now."

Mr Paterson said he had wanted to show his daughter the meaning of peaceful demonstration.

"We were just a small group of people basically exercising our right, our responsibility to say 'We don't think this is correct'," he said.

"I have heard the police on the radio saying the security was great. Maybe for the torch it was. We told police what had happened to us and they just said 'We know what is going on'."

Another pro-Tibet protester, Marion Vecourcay, said she felt frightened and threatened by the Chinese demonstrators.

"They mobbed the sign, they were really aggressive, insulting and swearing," she said.

"They said we have no right to be here but I live up the street.

"It was just a mob mentality."

Pro-China demonstrator Jeff Li yelled at the pro-Tibetan supporters: "The Dalai Lama is a hypocrite, a liar, an ugly man."

Mr Li said the pro-Tibet protesters were ill-informed.

"These people are idiots, they know nothing about China's history," Mr Li said.

ACT police said seven people were arrested during the relay and would soon be charged with offences relating to the "major events security act".

Five were pro-China protesters, two were pro-Tibet, police said.

Despite the protests and rivalry between groups of supporters, commentators said overall the torch relay had gone off well compared to in cities such as London and Paris, where violence erupted.

Away from the barricades, there was a carnival atmosphere, as spectators revelled in the event under clear blue skies.

A "relieved but elated" ACT government spokesman Jeremy Lasek said despite the arrests, the relay had been a "raging success".

The fact there were so few arrests among more than 20,000 people, with tensions sometimes running high, was a great result, he said.

"The most important thing is the flame was never in danger, from start to finish, and that's an enormous credit to our federal police," Mr Lasek told Sky News.

Earlier, ACT Chief Minister Jon Stanhope said he upheld the right for people to demonstrate peacefully.

"I uphold utterly the right of anyone to use the leg of today's relay as an opportunity to have their voice heard, to be allowed to assent, to speak freely as a mark of our democracy," Mr Stanhope said.

"We do not muzzle dissent just because it might embarrass us or embarrass our friends.

"We hope our friendship can bear a little plain speaking."

The flame's in North Korea now. The news is reporting "No disruptions are expected."

Well duh!