Yesterday's skirmishes in London during the Olympic torch relay should spark concerns over proposals to take the torch through Europe, the US and Tibet. Protests were much larger and more aggressive than predicted by London police and Sunday's route was changed several times to avoid trouble.
At one point a protester broke through security lines and attempted to wrestle the torch from children's TV presenter Konnie Huq. Later, two men tried to put out the flame using a fire extinguisher.
In the US, Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi, has called on the public to make their feelings known when the torch comes to town. This amounts to encouraging (presumably peaceful) public protests.
Rather than have images of police wrestling protesters to the ground dominate the Games before they've even begun, surely it's worth revising the route now.
China can't march to 10 Downing Street, where the Olympic relay received the implicit endorsement of Gordon Brown, and then complain that others are attempting to politicize a sporting event.
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