Ghost of a flea

Before the torch arrived police circulated among Tibetan demonstrators ordering them to remove T-shirts and confiscating Tibetan flags in an apparent breach of a promise from Met commanders that police would not intervene to prevent embarrassment to Beijing.

Yonten Ngama, a Tibetan who has been resident in the UK for four years, was ordered to remove a T-shirt scrawled with three slogans, 'China Stop the Killing', 'No Torch in Tibet' and 'Talk to the Dalai Lama'. "They didn't tell me why, they just said I couldn't wear it," he said. Police on the ground declined to comment on the reasons for confiscating the T-shirt.

The largest demonstration came in Whitehall opposite the gates of Downing Street, where what little dignity the event retained was removed by the presence of a battle bus sponsored by Samsung. Carrying a dozen female dancers wearing leotards and clutching pompoms, it stopped alongside the demonstrators as the torch made its way down Whitehall and blared the theme tune from Fame.