Norway wants rethink of torch relay

OSLO (Reuters) - The head of the Norwegian Olympic Committee said on Monday the Olympic torch relay should be reconsidered due to public protests accompanying its journey to China.

Tove Paule's comments come a day after thousands of protestors, angry about China's crackdown on Tibet and its human rights record, tried to disrupt the torch's passage through London.

"The International Olympic Committee may have a bigger problem when the torch relay continues, if we get more of these demonstrations," Paule was quoted as saying by public broadcaster NRK after a meeting with Olympic officials in Beijing.

"One will have to look at the whether the plans need to be changed," she said. It was not immediately clear if Paule wants to change the route of the torch relay, which faces more protests in Paris on Monday, or scrap the journey altogether.

"Should violent demonstrations occur in all the places the torch relay is visiting in the world, it is not a positive thing," she told NRK. "It is a shame, because the athletic achievements we will see, will disappear in the politics."

The Olympic flame, travelling under the "light the passion, share the dream" motto, will visit 21 cities internationally and every Chinese province, including Tibet, before arriving at the Beijing Olympics opening ceremony on August 8.

After Paris, it is due to pass through the U.S. city of San Francisco, Buenos Aires in Argentina, Tanzania's Dar es Salaam before moving on through numerous Asian centres and Australia.

(Reporting by Wojciech Moskwa and Aasa Christine Stoltz; Editing by Matthew Jones)