"Chinese students in the UK are being mobilised to form an unofficial guard for the Olympic torch when it passes through the UK next weekend, raising the fear of clashes with protesting Tibetan activists calling for independence.

The Overseas Chinese Students for the Olympic Association has told supporters it is vital they draw attention away from any anti-Chinese propaganda.

Police have been asked to prevent clashes by keeping them apart from the 1,000 Tibetan supporters expected to protest as the torch is carried along the 31-mile route from Wembley to Greenwich next Sunday.

On their website, the student organisers, who claim to have the support of the Chinese Embassy, say they must seize the initiative and gather in numbers to ensure the Western world hears their voice.

Their call comes as the Metropolitan Police, charged with the safe passage of the Olympic flame through the capital, prepares for what is expected to be the first major flashpoint on the torch's 85,000-mile journey through 135 cities across the globe.

Security chiefs have already held a number of meetings with the Free Tibet Campaign, the largest of the Tibetan pro-independence groups in the UK, and the Burmese religious sect, Falun Gong, which maintains a constant vigil outside the Chinese Embassy in London. Both have pledged peaceful, non-violent protests.

Matt Whitticase, from Free Tibet, said his group was urging the Metropolitan Police to keep the Chinese students well away from the Tibetan protesters: 'We need to be separated from them so there is no spark or flashpoint or opportunity for things to get out of hand.

'Of course, we support everyone's right to peaceful protest. We just don't want them anywhere near us. We expect they will be in large numbers - there are a lot more Chinese in Britain than there are Tibetans. And I imagine the Chinese Embassy is working the phones as we speak.'

The same Chinese student group has already held protests outside the Houses of Parliament and Tibet House, the London headquarters of the Tibetan 'government-in-exile', and organised a letter-writing campaign calling on Prime Minister Gordon Brown not to meet the Dalai Lama.

More than 2,000 officers - including river, airborne and mounted police - will be on duty during a massive security operation for the eight-hour leg of the relay. Students for a Free Tibet (SFT), an international organisation whose embrace of direct action techniques has attracted many young Tibetans, said it would be staging peaceful rallies at designated points along the route.

In the past members have engaged in high-profile demonstrations: its Tibetan-American student leader, Tenzin Dorjee, was arrested by the Chinese at Everest's Tibetan base camp when he protested at a trial ascent of the torch. SFT members have also unfurled banners on the Great Wall.

Pema Yoko, the group's UK co-ordinator, said they were expecting to be joined by Tibetans from around Europe for their peaceful demonstration. She warned: 'It is a very emotional time for Tibetans. And we have no control over what any individual does. I am sure disruptions are likely.'

The group was present during the flag-waving demonstration that hijacked the lighting of the flame ceremony at ancient Olympia in Greece last week.

The relay is also expected to attract protests at Chinese policy over Darfur in Sudan, as well as anti-war demonstrators. Whitticase said Free Tibet's intention was not to disrupt the relay. 'But we do intend to protest audibly and visibly and within sight of the torch. It is the torch that is our target, not the torch-bearers.'

A total of 80 torch-bearers will take part in the relay, including the newsreader Sir Trevor McDonald, five-times Olympic gold medallist Sir Steve Redgrave and double gold medallist Dame Kelly Holmes.

Former Blue Peter presenter Konnie Huq wavered over whether to take part in the relay in the wake of recent violence in Tibet, but said on Friday she would do so 'after much consideration'. Human Rights groups claim 140 people have been killed in Tibet since anti-China protests began two weeks ago.

Starting in Wembley at 10.30am, the route will take the torch through Notting Hill, Oxford Street, China Town and Trafalgar Square before it arrives in Greenwich at 6pm.

The relay will be partly undertaken by bicycle, boat, on the Docklands Light Railway and by bus.

It will be at its most exposed when runners carry it on sections including from Ladbroke Grove to Lancaster Gate in west London and from London Bridge to Whitechapel in east London"





THE ROUTE FOR 6th APRIL IS
10:30am - Wembley
11:00am - Ladbroke Grove
12:20pm Notting Hill Gate
12pm - Oxford Street
12:30pm - China Town
12:40pm - Piccadilly Circus
12:50pm - Trafalgar Square
1:30pm - Southbank Centre
2:15pm - Somerset House
2:30pm - St Paul’s
3pm - Potters Field and More London
4pm - Stratford
5pm - Canary Wharf
6pm - Greenwich