It is supposed to be a celebration of the Olympic ideals of peace and harmony.

But as the Olympic torch relay made its way around London yesterday, protests against the Chinese government's human rights record and clashes between police and demonstrators continued to disrupt its global journey.

The athletes and celebrities who carried the torch looked anxious as they were surrounded by a tight circle of security and police who battled against protesters for much of the 31-mile route.

Sir Steve Redgrave, who started the relay at Wembley, said it was "cheap" to try to use athletes as scapegoats when the more powerful weapons of government and big business were not taking the lead.

"As an athlete I'm very happy to stand side-by-side with governments and certainly business if they would like to stop trading with China and not being commercially involved," he said.

"I'm very happy to hold up those views but that's certainly not the case. There's nobody pulling out financially from trading with China so why should sports people be made scapegoats towards these issues?

"From my experience of the issues I've had before within sport, in some ways - and I'm not degrading the situation - it's relatively cheap to pick on athletes to get a public profile.

"There's very little, if any, publicity about the people who are actually trading with China and making financial gain from it."

Thousands of protesters lined the route round the city and at several points during the relay individual campaigners managed to break through security.

Former Blue Peter presenter Konnie Huq, one of 80 torchbearers throughout the day, was caught up in one of the scuffles when protesters tried to snatch the torch from her hand. Huq had earlier admitted that she was unsure whether to take part in the relay, but later decided to fulfil the role, despite saying the Chinese regime was "despicable".

After the event yesterday, she said: "I think that people feel very strongly about China and human rights but I guess that I am very lucky to be living in a country where people can have an opinion."

Protesters waved Tibetan flags and shouted "Shame on China" as the relay travelled round the city. Many gathered at the British Museum, where Fu Ying, China's Ambassador to London, had been expected to take the torch. However, she instead carried it, surrounded by heavy security, through Chinatown.

The intensity of the protests against China's crackdown in Tibet, its failure to stop the bloodshed in Sudan's Darfur region and its human rights record also forced last-minute changes to the transport used for the lengthy relay.

Police were forced to rush the flame on to a double-decker bus in Fleet Street when protesters tried to seize it. Flanked by police vans and with officers running alongside, the bus crawled along to St Paul's Cathedral as spectators, who had expected to see the torch paraded on foot, looked on bemused.

Outside Downing Street, where Denise Lewis handed the torch to Paralympic hopeful Ali Jawad, 1000 protesters traded slogans with China supporters who waved flags and banged drums. Police tried to keep the two sides apart but there were some clashes and verbal abuse.

Chen Liang, 21, was adamant that Chinese police had done no wrong in the recent clashes in Tibet. "We've come here to support our own country and to see the torch," he said. "Most of those people have never been to China and they don't know what's happening there."

Julie Li, 28, also from China but living in Britain, said sport and politics should be kept apart. "There is no connection with politics - games are games. It has nothing to do with politics," she said.

Athletes last night spoke of their pride at carrying the torch round London, the home of the Summer Olympics in 2012, despite the protests.

Cricketer Kevin Pietersen said: "To be a part of such an historic event was a great experience for me. All the athletes that take part in the Games work so hard and put in so much time to prepare and I fully appreciate that as a sportsman myself."

After running her leg of the relay at Tower Bridge, marathon world record holder Paula Radcliffe said: "It is raising the profile and people's awareness of what is going on - and that is a good thing. But do not confuse Olympics with politics."

However, campaigners said that the protests were an important opportunity to highlight the widespread criticism of China's human rights record.

Tim Hancock, of Amnesty International UK, said: "We hope the Olympic torch will throw some light on human rights in China and expose what is happening right now to people from Beijing to Tibet.

"The Chinese authorities promised that hosting the Games would improve human rights but what we have seen is a growing clampdown on activists, lawyers, journalists and protesters.

"We want the Games to leave a positive legacy for human rights in China. This is still possible but time is running out."

Temzin Dolma, 20, of Tibetan descent, clutched a balloon with a red cross on it outside Downing Street. "I'm here to protest against the torture in Tibet," she said, urging international humanitarian agencies to go to Tibet to register human rights abuses.

Double Olympic middle-distance champion Dame Kelly Holmes ran the final leg before lighting a cauldron at Greenwich, one of the venues for the London 2012 Games. Dame Kelly said: "At the end of the day the Olympic torch is a call to all sportspeople that the Games are about to begin and that is what sports people's dreams are all about.

"I have felt very proud to hold the torch, and even prouder to light the cauldron at the end."