The Beijing 2008 Olympic Games torch relay was reduced to farce and ignominy yesterday as ugly scenes of protest disrupted the London leg of the tour that was billed as a journey of harmony and peace. More than 35 protesters were arrested in a series of clashes with the police, who had to reroute part of the procession to protect the 80 runners.

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The progress of the Olympic torch, which was escorted throughout its journey by a phalanx of Chinese minders, was halted in several places where police scuffled with protesters

Despite nearly a year of planning and the deployment of 2,000 officers, the Metropolitan Police were unable to stop protesters breaking through the security cordon at vulnerable points. In West London the torch was nearly taken from Konnie Huq, a former Blue Peter presenter. Two demonstrators tried to douse the flame with a fire extinguisher near Ladbroke Grove, and the human rights campaigner Peter Tatchell jumped in front of a relay bus in Oxford Street. The torch was diverted from foot to a bus at St Paul's to avoid trouble.

The progress of the Olympic torch, which was escorted throughout its journey by a phalanx of Chinese minders, was halted in several places where police scuffled with protesters. Fu Ying, the Chinese Ambassador, was forced to run her stretch of the route through Chinatown after ditching plans to run through Bloomsbury, where hundreds of pro-Tibet protesters were waiting. Police pushed the protesters behind barriers 20 yards from the route to separate them from pro-Chinese groups waving red communist flags on the pavement. Despite attempts to create a festival atmosphere, with bands, dance troupes and costumed dragons, the loudest shouts from Wembley to Greenwich were of "Free Tibet", "Stop the Killing" and "China, talk to the Dalai Lama".

It was a public relations nightmare for London, with images of Tibetans pinned to the tarmac by police, and demonstrators waving placards outside Downing Street. The Government said that it would not consider scrapping the London torch relay in 2012. "It would be quite wrong for London to be intimidated by the threat of protest," Tessa Jowell, the Olympics Minister, said. "We cannot foresee what the circumstances will be in four years, but I hope that what will prevail is a celebration of the ambitions of our athletes, the Olympic movement and a free democracy."

Gordon Brown, ignoring calls to snub China for its crackdown on protests in Tibet, welcomed the Olympic flame behind Downing Street's steel gates in front of a vetted crowd. Meanwhile, demonstrators and police clashed just yards away outside Parliament. The Prime Minister did not hold the torch, which was passed between the heptathlete Denise Lewis, and Ali Jawad, a paralympian, but posed for a picture with it after the posse of Beijing minders were eventually persuaded to stand aside.

Activists demonstrating against China's human rights record have protested along the torch route since it began its 85,000-mile, 130-day odyssey from Ancient Olympia in Greece to Beijing for the opening ceremony on August 8. The global tour - the longest in Olympic history, meant as an illustration of China's growing economic and political power - has offered pressure groups ample opportunity for protest.

There was trouble from the start of the eight-hour journey from Wembley to Greenwich yesterday. A protester lunged at the torch after Sir Steve Redgrave, the five times Olympic rowing champion, passed it to a schoolgirl.

As Colin Moynihan, chairman of the British Olympic Association, spoke of the torch "illuminating issues of concern" in China, eight Free Tibet campaigners were arrested trying to board a relay bus. Pressed against the wall, they were told that they had breached the peace and would be released when the torch left for Paris last night.

In the crowd Tim Alrich, 40, a protester from Bermondsey, southeast London, said: "We know it's a sports event, but my first question would be why do the Olympics end up being held in China? The Olympics are all about participation and inclusiveness, but they are taking place in China, which is not a democracy."

In some cases the Metropolitan Police appeared heavy-handed. Yonten Ngama, a Tibet-born care home worker, was asked by police at Wembley to remove a T-shirt that declared: "China Stop the Killing." Minutes before he was arrested, he said: "It is difficult to protest. China is powerful also in the UK."

Protesters arrested by police were jeered at by Chinese students. Ting Ting Li, 26, an employee of a Chinese technology company, said: "Tibetans are just a minority. The Beijing Games will be a great thing for China and the world. We are here not only to support Beijing but also the Games in London." Qu Yingpu, a Beijing Olympic spokesman, said that the flame had brought "hope and friendship" to London.

The tension on the streets suggested otherwise. Sir Clive Woodward, the former England rugby coach, looked bemused as he was penned inside a mobile ring of security in front of the British Museum.

Scott Earley Jr, from Glasgow, needed dozens of police to keep baying mobs from snatching the torch as he ran past Big Ben to Westminster Bridge. "Everyone was running at you. It was a bit weird," he said.

Tim Henman, who ran through Notting Hill, admitted: "There was definitely a bit of an edge."

Huq, who ran despite condemning the Chinese regime, said that she was determined to hang on to the torch. "It was all a bit of a shock," she said. "I was not expecting to be wrestled. People feel very strongly about China and human rights, but I guess that I am very lucky to be living in a country where people can have an opinion."

The torch relay is expected to face demonstrations in Paris, San Francisco, Delhi, and elsewhere on its 21-stop tour before reaching mainland China on May 4.

Zhang Qingli, the Communist Party chief in Tibet, insisted the torch would be taken through Tibet twice - up Mount Everest and to Lhasa - but spoke of "new sabotage activities by the Dalai clique".

Who are the other boys in blue?

The unanswered question yesterday was: just who were the Chinese minders who formed a protective ring around the torch?

Lodged between the torchbearers and officers from the Metropolitan Police, a group of Chinese officials shadowed the flame along the route.

Wearing blue and white Beijing 2008 tracksuits, the eleven men were officially described as "flame attendants" responsible for the safe passage of the torch on its journey around the world. They ran in symmetry and remained in touch via earpieces.

Organisers said the men were employees of the Beijing Olympic Organising Committee (Bocog). They landed with the flame at Heathrow on Saturday on a chartered Air China flight from St Petersburg and will go on to Paris.

Ministers said that they had no knowledge of their diplomatic status. Bob Broadhurst, the commanding officer for the Met's £1 million security operation, said: "They are from Bocog. What their status beyond that is, I don't know. Their prime role is to look after the torch and keep the flame alive."

He cited the precedent of the Tour de France, which started from London last summer and involved about 80 French police officers on motorcycles managing the peloton and the support vehicles.