Hong Kong Rolls Out Red Carpet for Olympic Torch

Police removed human rights protesters being barracked by hostile torch supporters today, as more than 100,000 people gathered to celebrate the start of the Olympic flame's journey through China.

Ugly scenes marred the morning, with angry pro-government demonstrators haranguing and jostling democracy activists and other campaigners.

But the mood improved in the afternoon and there appeared to be no attempts to disrupt the flame's eight-hour journey across Hong Kong by foot, horseback, dragonboat - and even a yacht across the city's harbor.

Revellers packed thronged streets and walkways, many waving Chinese flags and clad in red, as the government had requested. Several had rolled up pieces of paper to resemble the torch.

The authorities were so determined to ensure a suitable reception for the torch - dogged by protests on its international tour - that they even told residents not to hang out washing lest it make the city look untidy. Around 3,000 police guarded its route.

"It is a great and solemn honour for Hong Kong, Asia's world city, to welcome back the Olympic flame on behalf of our proud nation," the region's chief executive Donald Tsang said as the relay began.

Moments before, student Christina Chan and several fellow campaigners had been bundled into a van and driven away after furious demonstrators waving Chinese flags tried to break through the police line protecting them and seize their placards and Tibetan flag - which is banned in China.

Asked if she was concerned about her safety, she told reporters: "I'm more worried about people not having any room in Hong Kong to talk about anything that's contrary to the government's opinion anymore."

She resisted her removal, despite officers' insistence they were seeking to protect her, and later claimed it was a deliberate attempt to stop her protesting as the torch went past.

A solo demonstrator, holding a placard urging dialogue between the Chinese government and the Dalai Lama, was surrounded by bystanders who swore at him, shoved him and called him "mentally sick" and a traitor.

In a separate incident, police put a second group of democracy activists into a van as a large crowd of torch supporters confronted them, yelling "running dog" and "get out."

But elsewhere, torch supporters criticized protests without seeking to drown them out.

Liang Shu, who comes from the mainland but works in Hong Kong, said he had many foreign friends but urged westerners to visit China and learn about the country before criticising it.

He added: "Maybe a long time ago it was not good enough, but currently it is getting better and better."

One local resident carried a banner reading: "Support Beijing Olympics - working towards a democratic China."

Leung Kwan Pang, who had given his hair a red rinse for the occasion and wore a red Olympic T-shirt, feared that protests abroad had backfired. Discussions about serious issues were not being heard because people in China felt under attack from the west.

"In China what they have heard is only badmouthing ... It's time to talk, not protest," he said.

Hong Kong enjoys political freedom not available on the mainland under the "one country, two systems" formula.

But several people - including pro-Tibet campaigners and a Danish human rights activist - were barred from the region in the run-up to the relay.

The actor Mia Farrow was allowed to enter yesterday after reassuring officials she had no intention of disrupting it or even protesting near it.

Today she renewed calls for China to pressure Sudan to stop killings in its western Darfur region, saying it was "singularly positioned" because of its business ties with Khartoum. China has bought huge amounts of oil from the African nation and sold it weapons.

The torch will go to Macau, another special administrative region, tomorrow, before starting its journey through the mainland. A separate flame is in Tibet, awaiting good weather so that it can be carried to the top of the world's highest mountain, Everest.