BANGKOK - China supporters and pro-Tibet demonstrators heckled each other Saturday as thousands of people followed the Olympic torch through Bangkok's sweltering streets amid tight security.
Thousands of people waved Chinese and Thai flags at a send-off in the city's Chinatown. A sole dissenter, a Western woman, carried a picture of the Dalai Lama, Tibet's exiled spiritual leader. Some members of the crowd shouted at her to "get out!''
Along the route, about 100 human rights demonstrators faced off across a road against a similar number of China supporters. Tempers flared as the torch passed, with the protesters shouting at each other, but police kept the groups apart.
Protests over China's crackdown on anti-government riots in Tibet have dogged the torch relay in San Francisco, Paris and other stops on its way to the Olympics' opening ceremony in August in Beijing.
Growing criticism of China's human rights record has turned the Olympics into one of the most contentious in recent history.
Eighty runners took part in the nearly three-hour relay, with the torch carried home by Pawina Thongsuk, a Thai weightlifter who won an Olympic gold medal at the 2004 Summer Games in Athens.
Thai authorities had deployed about 2,000 police and barricades to protect the Olympic torch along the relay's 10-kilometre route. Hundreds of crowd control and security personnel also were on duty.
Police kept a cautious watch for provocative anti-China signs or banners, as well as protesters possibly emerging from small alleyways when the torch passed. Thai authorities warned earlier that any foreign activists who tried to disrupt the relay would be deported.
On Friday, Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej lashed out at potential protesters.
"Whoever tries to destroy the flame is crazy and unreasonable,'' he said. "Why would anyone protest in Thailand? Why don't they protest in China?''
A coalition of human rights and other activist groups staged a loud but peaceful protest in front of the U.N.'s Asian headquarters along the relay route in Bangkok.
"We want to show the Chinese government that the crackdown in Tibet did not spark outrage only in the Western world,'' said Pokpong Lawansiri, coordinator of the Free Tibet Movement.
They waved placards and chanted "Free Tibet'' and "Shame, shame Hu Jintao,'' referring to China's president.
They were countered by an equal-sized, mostly Chinese-speaking crowd across the street yelling "One China!'' and other pro-China slogans.
Before the torch passed, police made a modest effort to disperse the pro-Tibet demonstrators, with one officer on a loudspeaker imploring them to "think of the reputation of the country and not be opportunistic.'' Police also videotaped the protesters.
The torch passed by many of Bangkok's historical sites, including the Temple of the Emerald Buddha, the ceremonial Grand Palace and Chitralada Palace, the residence of King Bhumibol Adulyadej.
The torch was scheduled to leave for Malaysia on Saturday night.
