UPDATE 2-Olympics-Australia resorts to "dynamic" torch relay
(Recasts with details, background, additional quotes)
By Rob Taylor
CANBERRA, April 23 (Reuters) - Australian police promised on Wednesday a "dynamic" torch relay to dodge protesters when the Olympic flame travels the Australian leg of its troubled journey around the world.
China had hoped the torch's progress would be a symbol of unity in the run-up to the Beijing Games, but at several previous relays the flame has drawn anti-China protests over human rights and Beijing's crackdown in Tibet, as well as pro-China demonstrations.
The Australian relay is on Thursday, but Pro-Tibet demonstrators have already beamed laser signs onto the iconic Sydney Harbour Bridge reading "Don't Torch Tibet", and a group of Tibetans on hunger strike was on a 70 km (43 mile) march to Canberra to rally against the torch relay.
The flame landed at an air force base in the capital under the kind of protection usually afforded visiting world leaders.
Thousands of pro-Tibet supporters have promised peaceful rallies during Thursday's torch relay, while thousands of Chinese students were expected to rally in support of China.
The Olympic torch's appearance worldwide has been marked by heavy security and sharply curtailed celebrations. Tibet supporters disrupted the relay in London, Paris and San Francisco, prompting officials to boost security and shorten the torch relay in India, Malaysia and Indonesia.
Australian organisers have dropped plans to run the torch past the Chinese embassy, near Australia's national parliament, fearing the embassy could become a flashpoint for protests.
Hundreds of extra police have been called in to protect the flame, which will be carried by 80 runners through barricaded streets on Thursday.
Media reports said the Chinese embassy had hired 20 buses to bring supporters from Sydney and the southern city of Melbourne, an eight-hour drive from Canberra, to counter protesters.
"We're in a democratic country. If people want to protest, that's a matter for them, as long as they do it peacefully," International Olympic spokesman Kevan Gosper told Reuters after watching the torch arrive.
Aborigine Bunja Smith, who presented Chinese torch officials in Canberra with a traditional wooden message stick inscribed with the word "Peace", said Australia's Aborigines understood the need for protest.
"We are a people who have been repressed, but we ask the protesters to keep it a protest and not violent," he said. Australia's five-time Olympic gold medal swimmer Ian Thorpe, who will run the final leg of the Canberra relay, said he also understood why people were demonstrating.
"I'd just like to think that if you are going to protest on issues like this, it shouldn't be centred around a particular event," said Thorpe.
Relay organiser Ted Quinlan said he did not expect clashes, while a spokeswoman for China's Foreign Ministry said on Tuesday she was confident the Canberra torch relay would be a success.
DYNAMIC ROUTE
Canberra police commander Mike Phelan said the torch route, expected to start with a lake-crossing, would have contingencies in place if expected protests turned violent.
"The route as published is something that will be dynamic on the day," he said.
Phelan stressed Australian police alone would handle security after Beijing Olympic Committee Spokesman Qu Yingpu hinted Chinese attendants could step in, prompting hurried denials from city officials.
The chaotic scenes and perceived biased Western media coverage of the Tibet riots and the torch disruptions have sparked an outpouring of patriotic fervour among Chinese in and outside China.
Chinese Internet users have rushed to send thousands of red national flags overseas to support the troubled torch relay ahead of the Olympics, state media said. (For a related Chronology please see OLYMPICS/TORCH-DISRUPTIONS or click on [nSP231666]) (Additional reporting by Guo Shipeng in Beijing, James Grubel in Canberra and Michael Perry in Sydney; editing by Valerie Lee)
