By RIA Novosti,
Tokyo : The Olympic torch relay for this summer’s Beijing games, which has been marred by pro-Tibet protests in cities around the world, passed through central Japan’s Nagano on Saturday with sporadic disruptions.
Amid tight security, a few demonstrators managed to break through the security cordon, and two tried to grab the torch.
Senichi Hoshino, the manager of the Japanese national baseball team, held the torch for the start of today’s relay.
Crowds of Beijing supporters also gathered for the event, and a few scuffles broke out between them and Tibet activists.
The next leg of the relay will be in South Korea’s capital, Seoul.
The protests have focused on the Chinese crackdown on pro-independence demonstrations in Tibet last month.
Exiled Tibetans say Chinese brutally attacked demonstrators, killing around 140 people. Beijing says only 18 people were killed, almost all of them Han Chinese murdered by Tibetan separatists.