Supporters, protesters mark Japan Olympic torch leg

Hundreds of Chinese students waving red flags and signs such as "One World, One Dream, One China" gathered in Nagano for the next leg of the Olympic torch relay in Japan on Saturday, chanting and blowing whistles as they vied for attention with pro-Tibet protesters.

Elsewhere in the central Japanese city a memorial ceremony was due to be held at a Buddhist temple for all who died in recent riots in Tibet, in a further sign of reconciliation just hours after China said it would hold talks with the Dalai Lama's aides.

Police used fences and riot trucks to separate rival groups in Nagano, host to the 1998 Winter Olympics, as light rain fell ahead of the start of the relay this morning.

Supporters holding Chinese flags, mixed with some Japanese and Olympics emblems, lined the relay route, outnumbering protesters concentrated near Nagano's railway station.

Chants of "Free Tibet" mixed with "Go China" from the rival groups, who took one side of the street each with tense police separating them.

One person was hurt in a skirmish between torch supporters and Japanese right-wing activists, Japanese television reported.

Japan is anxious to avoid the chaotic scenes that have marked some of the global relay, with just over a week until President Hu Jintao makes the first visit to Japan by a Chinese president in a decade.

But tensions were running high, even after Chinese state media said on Friday Beijing would hold talks with representatives of the Dalai Lama, the exiled Buddhist leader of Tibet whom it blames for the unrest.

The global torch relay ahead of the Beijing Games in August has provoked protests against China's human rights record as well as patriotic rallies by Chinese who say the West has vilified Beijing unfairly.

Around 80 torch bearers took part in the 18.7km relay through the city, including the Olympic stadium. The flame's next stop is Seoul.

Spectators will be barred from the opening and closing ceremonies in Nagano, where domestic media said police on Friday had arrested a knife-wielding man claiming to be a monk, carrying a document protesting against the relay near the start point.

The event's route had to be altered just days ahead of time after Nagano's historic Buddhist temple of Zenkoji pulled out as host of the starting ceremony, citing safety concerns and complaints from its followers. The temple was the venue for the memorial service being held by supporters of Buddhist Tibet.

Meanwhile, Reporters Without Borders, who disrupted the relay's launch in Greece last month, said they would call off their planned demonstration if China proved to be serious about dialogue with Tibet.

Robert Menard of the group told reporters in Tokyo on Friday he wanted Japanese Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda to raise the subject of human rights in China with Hu.

The flame is meant to transmit a message of peace and friendship but its journey has been largely turned into a political event and the torch has been granted the sort of security usually reserved for state leaders.

Chief Cabinet Secretary Nobutaka Machimura called for calm on Friday but the flame's arrival in Nagano was greeted by trucks driven by activists roaming the streets, displaying huge Japanese flags and blaring "go away".

Yellow T-shirt-clad supporters of the Falun Gong religious group, outlawed in China, marched down a street with a brass band and yellow banners.

Dozens of people carrying pro-Tibet and Japanese flags later marched near the City Hall, blaring "Nagano City, cancel the torch relay now" as two vans of riot police trailed them.

The torch is guarded by up to 4,000 Japanese police, media said, with riot police and another 100 officers set to shield torch-bearers in two rows, shrouding the runners from sight.

They will be joined by two Chinese "flame attendants", although Japan has made it clear that their participation in security would not be welcome after criticism elsewhere of the paramilitary guards as heavy-handed in protecting the torch.

- Reuters