Meanwhile, Lord Sebastian Coe, chairman of the 2012 London Olympic Committee, described the Chinese ‘flame attendants’, who marshalled the Olympic torch around London on Sunday, as “thugs”.

Also an Olympic medallist, Lord Coe was quoted as telling his assistant that they tried to “push me out of the way three times. They are horrible. They did not speak English... I think they were thugs.”

The Olympic torch had a difficult journey through London and Paris with hundreds coming out to demonstrate against alleged human rights abuses by China and its policies in Tibet.

The last leg of the relay in the French capital had to be cancelled after demonstrators tried to grab the torch. The torch reached San Francisco today amidst tight security and apprehensions of more protests.

China has blamed the Dalai ‘clique’, a term it uses for the followers of the Dalai Lama, for the protests.

However, the office of the Dalai Lama in Dharamsala today distanced itself from the protests saying it did not command any control over them.

“We can have no influence over the protestors. We can only make an appeal to keep the protests peaceful and non-violent,” said an official of the Tibetan government in exile.

“His Holiness the Dalai Lama has made repeated appeals to observe restraint. He has also acknowledged the right of China to hold the Olympic Games,” the official said.

The demonstrations are spoiling China’s efforts to highlight its emergence as a major world power through the most extensive Olympic torch relay ever undertaken. The relay is scheduled to cover more than 130,000 km in 21 countries and even go to the top of Mount Everest.

... contd.