Australian police tussled with Chinese torch escorts Thursday as the Olympic flame was run through Canberra to rowdy demonstrations by thousands of Chinese supporters and pro-Tibet protesters.


Seven people were arrested on the sidelines while centre-stage Australian police and the Chinese escorts, clad in blue-and-white tracksuits, physically played out a long-running dispute over who was in charge of security.
On several occasions, police pulled one of the escorts back from alongside the runner carrying the torch, until they appeared to reach a compromise as the relay continued its 16-kilometre (10-mile) route, television footage showed.
On Wednesday, Chinese and Australian officials openly disagreed at a press conference about the role of the Chinese attendants, who were described by top British Olympic official Sebastian Coe during the London leg as "thugs".
Canberra police chief Mike Phelan said the push and shove at the start of the relay between a Chinese flame attendant and a police officer was "a slight communications misunderstanding" and quickly sorted out.
"It was just simply technical communications about how far back and so on... and then once it was clearly articulated it wasn't a problem," he said.
"For fifteen-and-a-half kilometres of a 16-kilometre run it went quite well."
The torch, symbol of the Beijing Games, is on the Asian stretch of a world tour that began with protests in Greece when the flame was lit on March 24.
The flame became a focus of demonstrations over China's role in Tibet and its human rights record as it passed through Europe and the United States.
Australian police said seven people had been taken into custody during the noisy protests -- five Chinese supporters and two pro-Tibet demonstrators -- for interfering with the running of the relay.
They include one man who sat down on the road about 15 metres ahead of one of the torchbearers before he was pounced on by police. Phelan said all those arrested faced fines.
Australian officials described the relay as a "spectacular success" given the troubles which plagued the torch elsewhere, notably London and Paris.
Organisers Ted Quinlan said Australian and international Olympic officials "are stoked (very pleased) that something that looked like it was going down the tubes may have been turned around."
Australian Capital Territory Chief Minister Jon Stanhope said it was the best relay leg held since Beijing took control of the flame on March 24.
"It didn't go to custard, we didn't have it go onto buses, it wasn't shuffled off into warehouses, it wasn't truncated or abandoned after two kilometres. It ran its full course. It was peaceful."
Police kept the estimated 10,000 Chinese supporters largely away from the 2,000-strong pro-Tibet group, but tempers flared at several stages along the route, and there were reports of scuffles.
Stanhope said while some "enormously regrettable" incidents took place, it was unsurprising given the depth of feeling.
"One of the great successes of the relay was the opportunity it presented for those who wished to make a point, to express a point of view about China," he said.
Police said initial estimates were that the relay crowd swelled from 3,000 to more than 20,000 as the torch made its way around the city.
The relay ended after some three hours with former Olympic champion swimmer Ian Thorpe lighting a cauldron with his torch.
The flame's next stop is Nagano, Japan, where organisers have altered the route and mounted extra security to prevent the kind of disruption that marred earlier relay legs.
Protesters have flayed China's crackdown on unrest in Tibet, which exiled Tibetan leaders say claimed more than 150 lives. Beijing rejects such figures, saying Tibetan "rioters" killed 20 people