Brown calls for restraint as he prepares to welcome the torch to London
By James Hamilton

Gordon Brown has insisted he will attend the Beijing Olympics, despite a warning by the French that President Nicolas Sarkozy will boycott the games unless China opens talks with the Dalai Lama.

Hundreds of Free Tibet campaigners are expected on the streets of London today as the Olympic torch relay passes through the city on its 31-mile route from Wembley stadium to the O2 Arena in Greenwich.

The prime minister, who is due to welcome the torch in Downing Street, renewed his calls for "restraint" and for a dialogue to be opened between the Dalai Lama and the Chinese authorities.

However, speaking at the Progressive Governance Conference of international centre-left leaders in Watford yesterday, he said that even the exiled Tibetan leader was not calling for an Olympics boycott.

"The Dalai Lama himself has said that he does not want to see a boycott of the Olympics and that is why I have said, as the host country for the 2012 Olympics that is coming up, that I will attend the Olympics as I hope many others do," he said.

Nevertheless, his position came under renewed pressure after the French human rights minister Rama Yade said Sarkozy - who will hold the rotating EU presidency when the games open in August - would stay away unless a series of conditions were met.

"Three conditions are indispensable for him to go: an end to violence against the population and the release of political prisoners, light to be shed on events in Tibet and the opening of dialogue with the Dalai Lama," she told Le Monde newspaper.

Yade later issued a statement claiming that she had been misquoted by Le Monde and had not used the word "conditions".

Sarkozy has, however, previously said that he would consider boycotting the Beijing Games opening ceremony if the Chinese crackdown in Tibet were to continue.

In Britain, Free Tibet campaigners have been steadily stepping up the pressure ahead of the arrival of the Olympic torch in London.

Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg has written to Brown urging him to pull out of any event connected to the Beijing games, while it was announced that actress Joanna Lumley would be among the protestors today.

On Friday, the Tibet Society UK claimed that 10 people had been killed and 75 injured when Chinese troops opened fire on a crowd outside at the small Dhonkar monastery.

Brown said that any violence in China was to be condemned, while making the point that the Dalai Lama had met all the conditions set by the Chinese for talks.

"I do urge restraint all round. It is important that we recognise that the tensions between those in Tibet and the Chinese authorities can only be resolved by dialogue," he said.

"It is important to recognise the Dalai Lama has said explicitly that he does not support full independence for Tibet. It is also important to recognise that he has condemned violence by his supporters."

The Metropolitan Police have said they have heard from six organisations, including the Free Tibet movement, the spiritual group Falun Gong and the Burma campaign, which were planning to send a total of up to 500 protesters to the relay route.

A spokeswoman for the Metropolitan Police said four protesters were arrested during a demonstration when two men climbed the side of Westminster Bridge.

"The two men erected a banner and were removed by officers," she said. "A further two protesters were arrested."