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Chinese TV viewers did not see the protest

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China pledged strict security measures to ensure that its segment of the Beijing Olympics torch relay will not be marred by protests similar to the one at Monday's lighting ceremony in Greece.

The Communist leadership has faced a public relations disaster since demonstrations against Chinese rule turned violent in the Tibetan capital of Lhasa, sparking waves of unrest in surrounding provinces.

In Greece, two demonstrators ran onto the field at Ancient Olympia during the flame-lighting ceremony, which was carried on Chinese state television with a more than 30-second delay.

Cameras abruptly cut away when a man carrying a black flag with handcuffs used to symbolise the five Olympics rings ran behind Liu Qi, the president of Beijing's Olympics organising committee, as he was giving a speech.

The Paris-based Reporters Without Borders rights group said the flag was one it uses and that three of its members got into the ceremony without problem.

"They have been neutralised by the security forces," said Fanny Dumont, another member of the group, adding she did not have any other details.

The display is something that Chinese authorities hope to prevent when the torch arrives in Beijing at the end of the month.

China has already been embarrassed and angered by the Lhasa riots, the largest and most sustained in almost 20 years. It has blamed them on followers of the Tibetan spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama.

Beijing's Communist leadership has promised a smooth run-up to the Summer Olympics and is hoping that a successful games will bolster its international image.

"The more determined the Dalai clique is to ruin the torch relay and the Olympic Games, the more hard and good work we need to do on the preparation and the implementation of all aspects," Yin Xunping, a Communist Party official, was quoted as saying by the Tibet Daily newspaper. Yin is party secretary of the Tibet Mountain Climbing Team, which is participating in the Mount Everest segment of the torch relay.