The footballing great Diego Maradona pulled out of the Olympic torch relay in his native Argentina yesterday as the flame ran the gauntlet of fresh protests in Buenos Aires.

The Argentine star, famous for his “Hand of God” goal against England in the 1986 World Cup, had been scheduled to carry the torch the first 200 yards of the parade but withdrew at the last moment. Maradona delayed his return from Mexico in an apparent attempt to avoid the controversy. He was expected to be replaced by the windsurfer Carlos EspÍnola.

As doubts grew over the future of the Olympic torch relay, Japan announced that it would bar the “thug” Chinese security guards who accompany the flame after they were identified as paramilitary police.

Ban Ki Moon, the UN Secretary-General, said that he would not attend the opening ceremony of the Beijing Games on August 8 but added that this was because of a “scheduling issue” and was not a boycott. Argentine authorities mounted a massive security operation for the passage of the torch through the capital city after disturbances by pro-Tibetan supporters in London, Paris and San Francisco. About 2,700 police – three times the number normally deployed when the local football club Boca Juniors play – were backed up by 3,000 volunteers from city and sports organisations in an effort to protect the torch on its eight-mile (12km) parade through the city.

As the torch passed through the Plaza de Mayo, near the famous pink presidential palace, the Casa Rosada, four helicopters flew overhead, police marksmen stood on roof tops, and the flame itself was fdlanked by police outriders and its Chinese guardians. A water bomb thrown by a spectator was intercepted by a member of security and did not extinguish the flame.

The city government had tightened security after Jorge AnÍbal Carcavallo, a local leader of the Free Tibet organisation, interrupted a press conference on the torch held by the Mayor of Buenos Aires, Mauricio Macri. Mr Carcavallo said however that he hoped for peaceful protests. “We don’t want violence in Argentina today in a country that has suffered so much pain in the past”. “From one country that has endured so much pain in the past we say to another that is suffering so much pain today: China, begin dialogue, please. Be peaceful.”

Free Tibet activists appeared to heed his words, with thousands joining supporters of religious group Falun Gong in peaceful vigils before the torch passed around the city’s Obelisk and along 9 de Julio, the widest street in the world.

There was also a sizeable turnout of people from the local Chinese community, who sang hymns in Mandarin and celebrated that the Olympics would be going to Beijing.

Most of the onlookers appeared to enjoy the spectacle, creating chaos as they ran alongside attempting to catch a glimpse of the flame. Javier Garcia, aged 24 and a student, says: “I was proud to see the torch pass through my city but I think the Olympics is a symbol of human rights and the Chinese Government must enter into dialogue with the Dalai Lama.”

As each city on the torch’s itinerary prepares for protests, Japan announced that the blue-tracksuited Chinese security guards who accompanied it in London, Paris and San Francisco would not be allowed a repeat performance in Nagano on April 26.

The chairman of the Public Safety Commission said that security on Japanese soil this month would be handled by the domestic police alone.

“I do not personally accept the idea that they will run in Japan as they ran in other countries,” Shinya Izumi said.

The announcement followed the revelation that the Chinese runners – denounced as “thugs” by Lord Coe after they pushed protesters off the road in London – are a branch of the People’s Armed Police. Members of the paramilitary force were deployed last month to quell unrest in Tibet.

Australia had already banned the paramilitary guards from escorting the torch on the relay in Canberra on April 23 – a leg of the tour that is now in doubt because of the protests.