(AFP) – Apr 18, 2008

BANGKOK (AFP) — Thai torchbearers set off Saturday for the Bangkok leg of the protest-hit Beijing Olympic torch relay, witnesses said, with the flame guarded by more than 2,000 police and security officials.

After a short ceremony presided over by Thailand's Deputy Prime Minister Sanan Kachornprasart, the first of 80 runners set off from an ornate Chinese gate in Bangkok's Chinatown for the 10-kilometre (six-mile) relay.

"We reaffirm our position that we clearly separate politics and sport. Thailand is ready to organise the torch relay peacefully and orderly," Sanan said.

Hundreds of onlookers gathered for the launch of the relay, an AFP reporter on the scene said, with groups of Chinese tourists singing national songs and waving flags while acrobats and Chinese dragons put on a colourful display.

In Bangkok, about 2,000 police and other security were on the streets for Thailand's relay, which authorities are trying to keep free of the protests that dogged the legs through the British and French capitals earlier in April.

"I can reassure people that the torch relay today (Saturday) will go ahead as planned. There are no changes," General Yuthasak Sasiprapha, chairman of the Thai Olympic Council, told AFP.

"Police have prepared commando units to escort the torch-bearers."

Thai police have said they expect about 100 protesters out on the streets, and have warned that they will arrest, prosecute and deport any foreign nationals breaking the law to protest Beijing's human rights record.

China's communist rulers had hoped the Olympic Games would showcase the nation's much-touted "peaceful rise" to power, but the torch relay that began in Greece last month has instead become a high-profile target for activists.

A crackdown on protests against Chinese rule of Tibet in March has put the spotlight on China's heavily criticised record on human rights.

Exiled Tibetan leaders say Beijing's suppression of the protests left about 150 dead, while China says Tibetan "rioters" killed 20 people.

On Thursday, hundreds of protesters were reportedly arrested in India and Nepal, while the heart of New Delhi was sealed off for the torch relay.

Beijing suffered another blow to the torch relay on Friday, when a Buddhist temple in the Japanese city of Nagano pulled out of hosting a ceremony for the flame, citing concern over the situation in Tibet.

Though Japan's Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda said the temple's decision was "unfortunate," he also bluntly told visiting Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechia that Tibetan unrest had become an international issue.

Even where the flame has received a relatively warm welcome, coverage has focused on immense security operations.

In Malaysia, where the flame arrives Sunday, authorities will deploy an elite police squad along with 1,000 police officers to protect the torch, The Star daily reported Saturday.

A coalition of Thai human rights and students groups issued a statement on Saturday calling on China to cancel the planned torch relay through Tibet in June, improve its human rights record and stop its support for regimes accused of abuses, such as Sudan and Myanmar.

Waiting for the Bangkok opening ceremony, onlookers seemed unfazed by the prospect of demonstrations.

"I think the protests, if they happen, will not be serious because Thai people are peaceful, and because we don't actually know what happened there (in Tibet)," said Krailuek Yuwaamornmetsee, 46, a business owner.

Australian tourist Jason Whalley, 35, said he supported the protests, and would have joined in if the government had not threatened to deport foreigners.

"It's often seen as if you're trying to spoil the fun, but it's more a way to say something while the world's eye is on you," he told AFP.

The torch relay also includes stops in Indonesia, Australia, South Korea, Japan and Vietnam before heading to China.

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