CANBERRA—Free Tibet activists say they are delighted with the protests dogging the Olympic torch, and promise a strong but non-violent protest in Australia.
The Olympic torch relay is set to arrive in Canberra on April 24 following wild protests in London and Paris.
It arrived yesterday in Tanzania's commercial capital Dar es Salaam to start a drastically curtailed African leg.
Voice of Tibet Australia spokesman Tenpa Dugdak (Tenpa Dugdak) said he was pleased with the protests because they had thrown the spotlight on human rights abuses in Tibet.
"I think it was fantastic," he told the Nine Network.
"It was fantastic because the attention that Tibet is getting at the moment.
"The journey of harmony - is that happening in Tibet? I don't think so."
Mr Dugdak said he did not consider the protests in London and Paris violent because no one had been injured.
"We have Tibetans all over the world whose families are being killed, whose families are being prosecuted," he said.
Voice of Tibet Australia would protest peacefully when the torch arrived in Canberra but the group had no plans to extinguish the flame.
"Now that we don't have the Chinese security, thanks to Mr Kevin Rudd, I think it will calm the Tibetans down and we will see a non-violent but very powerful protest in Canberra," he said.
Canberra Relay Taskforce chairman Ted Quinlan said he respected the right of people to engage in peaceful protests.
"It is quite concerning if we're encouraging people to actually interfere with the relay itself and also try and extinguish the flame," he said.
"I think that's really going too far, it's breaking the law and it does mean that we have to now make very considerable arrangements to try and ensure that the relay goes through."
Mr Quinlan said he was "pretty sure" the International Olympic Committee would decide future torch relays would only go ahead within the host nation.