The International Olympic Committee may scrap the international leg of the Beijing Olympic torch relay as a result of the protests over China’s military crackdown in Tibet.

Jacques Rogge, the IOC President, says the organisation’s executive board will meet on Friday to debate whether to allow the torch to continue its 85,000-mile, 21-country journey.

Mr Rogge said this morning that he was “deeply saddened" by the violent protests in London and Paris, and concerned about tomorrow's torch relay in San Francisco.

The IOC is holding its last official meetings in the Chinese capital this week with organisers of the Beijing Games. Gunilla Lindberg, a Swedish IOC member, said that the protests surrounding the torch relay were “damaging the Olympic movement”. “Using the torch this way is almost a crime," Ms Lindberg said. This is the property of the IOC, it is not a Chinese torch.”

Kevan Gosper, an IOC member from Australia, said that IOC officials had warned their Chinese colleagues that London, Paris and San Francisco “would be sensitive places”, and China's recent crackdown in Tibet had "stirred the potential for protest".

The torch has been attracting ever more forceful protests since was lit in Olympia, Greece, last week. More than 35 people were arrested in London on Sunday and the torch had to be re-routed on several occasions as police battled to keep pro-Tibet protesters away from the flame.

In Paris yesterday the flame had to be put out four times and the torch taken into protective custody aboard a bus because of the strength of the protests. The Eiffel Tower and Notre Dame Cathedral were draped in protest banners showing the Olympic rings as handcuffs, and Bertrand Delanoë, the Mayor of Paris, cancelled a welcoming ceremony for the Olympic torch.

Authorities fear that San Francisco, one of America’s most liberal cities — where some of the largest Iraq war demonstrations have been held — could see protests even more violent than London and Paris.

The route of the flame has been shortened dramatically to a six-mile loop along the San Francisco waterfront, and some 200 activists in San Francisco have already organised their own “human rights torch relay”. Another group calling itself the Committee of 100 (C100) for Tibet will today hold a “Tibetans Freedom Torch”, with Archbishop Desmond Tutu and the actor Richard Gere attending.

Chinese community leaders in San Francisco have questioned whether countries castigating China’s human rights records have the moral authority to do so, and they say that Chinese-Americans will proudly welcome the torch.

After San Francisco the torch is next due to visit Buenos Aires, Dar es Salaam, Muscat, Islamabad, Bombay, Bangkok, Kuala Lumpur, Jakarta, Canberra, Nagano, Seoul, Pyongyang, Ho Chi Minh City and Taipei. It then arrives on the Chinese territory of Hong Kong, moving on through Macao for a grand tour of mainland China before arriving in Beijing on August 2, two days before the start of the games.

If the IOC votes to scrap the international leg of the torch relay, it is likely that the Olympic flame would go straight to China.

The concept of an international relay is a new invention, beginning with the 2000 Sydney Olympics, and has now expanded to 21 cities outside mainland China for the Beijing Olympics. Alex Gilady, an IOC member for Israel, said that the committee had already discussed ending the international relay after the Beijing games, and that it would likely come up again.

China has yet to respond to the IOC's threat to cancel the torch relay. Beijing has however shifted away from hiding from its people the protests pursuing the Olympic torch and has broadcast the disruptions on state media, sparking a national howl of outrage.

Jiang Yu, the Foreign Ministry spokeswoman, warned that saboteurs would fail in their efforts to blacken China’s image. She said: "If someone takes this as opportunity to threaten China, this is totally wrong, and anyone who uses the Olympics for political means will only tarnish their own image."

China is now seeking to rally public opinion to back government policy and reject criticism of the Beijing Olympics. Most Chinese are extremely proud to be hosting the Games and newspapers have played on public rancour.

"France didn't protect the sacred flame," said the Global Times, a popular tabloid. "The world has seen the irrational extremism of some in the West, and also seen the incompetence of the Paris police."

Outlook Weekly, an official magazine said that officials were bracing for more attempted protests and disruptions from "hostile forces" during the Games.

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