Smash hit

In Fleet Street, police reportedly had to take their first emergency decision to abandon the torchbearer's route on foot and place the flame on a bus travelling along a detour, when a group of 100 demonstrators made a concerted attempt to seize the torch.

There were fears of violence as both pro- and anti-China activists clashed in Trafalgar Square. Fu Ying, China’s ambassador to London, managed nonetheless to run with the torch in nearby Chinatown, despite rumours that she had pulled out for fear her presence would act as a flashpoint for protesters.

At least a thousand protestors had gathered opposite Downing Street where a sea of flags, banners and balloons could be seen, with chants calling for a free Tibet sounding along the length of Whitehall.

Gordon Brown emerged from No 10 to greet the flame in front of a vetted crowd behind the steel gates of Downing St. Amid chaotic scenes former Olympic pentathlon champion Denise Lewis took the flame outside No 10 and ran gingerly along the road surrounded by police.

Several demonstrators attempted to run towards the torch, some trying to jump the barriers which lined the pavement. Many were bundled to the floor by police, who were out on foot, on bicycles, and mounted on horseback. The crowd reacted noisily, booing and whistling and shouting their protests.

Protesters and the media followed the torch towards Parliament Square as police surrounded the bearer en masse.

England cricketer Kevin Pietersen was given the flame and headed towards Westminster Bridge - walking rather than running because of the mayhem. Camera crews, photographers, members of the public and outraged protesters were bundled out of the way as police frantically tried to clear a path and struggled to maintain control of the situation.

Later, the violinist Vanessa Mae was supposed to arrive at the Royal Festival Hall on the South Bank by boat, but this part of the route too was abandoned and instead she carried the torch in on foot for a ceremony attended by Lord Coe, the London 2012 chairman.

Earlier, police officers scuffled with a small group of anti-China protesters outside Wembley Stadium as the flame was carried on to a red double-decker bus in front of flag-waving spectators. A number of arrests were made after protesters tried to board the bus but there was no disruption to the relay, the Metropolitan Police said.

Two activists were taken away by police after attempting to put out the torch with fire extinguishers. Martin Wyness and Ashley Darby were waiting with their equipment on the corner of Holland Park Avenue and Ladbroke Grove. In a statement, the pair said the relay was a propaganda campaign by China to cover its “appalling human rights record”.

“Like many people in the UK we feel that China has no right parading the Olympic torch through London,” they said. “Our protest is not directed at the Chinese people whatsoever but instead at the brutal Chinese regime that rules them.”

Several British celebrities dropped out of the torch ceremony in a show of unity with Tibetan independence activists or to take a stand against China’s human rights record.

Earlier, campaigners and politicians called for Mr Brown to boycott the relay.

“It is deeply sad that the Chinese through their brutality in Tibet have contaminated the Olympic ideal,” said Norman Baker MP, president of the Tibet Society, in a statement on the Free Tibet Campaign’s website.

Nick Clegg, leader of the Liberal Democrats, told the BBC: “It’s wholly inappropriate that Gordon Brown is participating in this torch-bearing ceremony today."

Mr Brown has said he will not boycott the Games and says that the Dalai Lama, Tibet’s exiled spiritual leader, has not called for a boycott.

Chinese security forces have locked down Tibet and neighbouring provinces to quell anti-Chinese protests and riots that started in mid-March.

Human rights groups say Chinese police have killed a number of protesters. Foreign journalists cannot travel to the troubled regions to verify the claims.

Protesters are particularly incensed that the torch will be carried through Tibet by Chinese officials in June. The Free Tibet Campaign accuses Beijing of using the torch for its own propaganda purposes.

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