The London leg of the Olympic Torch Relay in the run up to the Beijing Olympics 2008 were marred with controversy, as they were to be in Paris, San Francisco and New Delhi. The controversy will likely continue throughout the relay, especially the planned Sydney and Tibet legs, and well after the Beijing Olympics have been and gone.

You can see the rest of my photos here...

I met the London leg of the Olympic Torch Relay at Whitechapel in East London and followed it through to the lighting of the cauldron at North Greenwich (bypassing Stratford because of the restricted access and lack of time).

Whatever your views on the demonstrators, or knowledge of the issues they were out to publicise (China's human rights record in Tibet, East Turkestan, Burma, Sudan, Zimbabwe, the death penalty etc) their impact has managed to get the world talking where it was once silent on the issues. Athletes have published a press release here... and although missing the point entirely, the issues are out in the open and the the demonstrators have succeeded in making themselves heard.

You can see the rest of my photos here...