LONDON — The Olympic torch made its way under heavy police guard through 31 miles of raucous protests across London on Sunday, amid mounting calls for European leaders to boycott the opening ceremonies in Beijing to protest China's human rights record.
With shouts of "Free Tibet!" and "Shame on China!" from the crowds, the torch occasionally had to be sheltered on a bus, while police scuffled with demonstrators who leaped in to try to halt the parade. In one case, a protester briefly grabbed the torch; in another, a man in a yellow jacket blasted an extinguisher at the flame.
Chinese counterdemonstrators waved their nation's red-and-gold banner and shouted, "Shame on you!" at the protesters who swept into the street near the British Museum.
There were at least 35 arrests on an unusually snowy spring day that helped turn parts of central London into temporary bedlam.
The protests highlight Europe's growing unease with supporting the Olympics in the face of the Chinese authorities' brutal crackdown in Tibet last month and its harsh criticism of Tibet's exiled spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama. Critics also cite China's record of stifling dissent, including the arrests of 31 journalists.
French President Nicolas Sarkozy was the first European leader to raise the possibility of not attending the Aug. 8 opening ceremonies in Beijing.
"Our Chinese friends must understand the worldwide concern that there is about the question of Tibet, and I will adapt my response to the evolutions in the situation that will come, I hope, as rapidly as possible," Sarkozy said last month. Asked about a boycott, he said he would "not close the door to any possibility." Officials and politicians in Germany, the Czech Republic, Estonia and Poland have also spoken in favor of skipping the opening ceremonies.
"Beijing has to decide. It should immediately start negotiations with the Dalai Lama. If not, I consider a boycott justified," Hans-Gert Poettering, the German president of the European Parliament, told the German weekly Bild am Sonntag last month. "We do want successful Games, but not at the price of a cultural genocide of the Tibetans."
A boycott appears to have substantial public support in Europe. However, it has not attracted widespread endorsement among government leaders, who have misgivings about alienating an important trade partner and boycotting an event meant to symbolize international harmony.
