KUALA LUMPUR, April 21 (Reuters) - Malaysian police warned
protesters they faced arrest on Monday if they tried to disrupt
the Olympic torch procession in the capital, as authorities
seek to avoid the kind of chaos that has dogged the relay
elsewhere.
 

About 1,000 police, including an elite special-operations
squad, will be deployed along the 16.5 km (10 miles) route that
starts at the colonial-era Freedom Square and ends at Petronas
Towers, the world's second-tallest buildings.
 

The torch relay has drawn a wave of anti-China protests
during stopovers in Europe and the Americas following Beijing's
crackdown last month on protests in Tibet.
 

Pro-China demonstrations, many involving Chinese studying
overseas, are becoming increasingly common as well.
 

The flame will travel from Kuala Lumpur to Jakarta and then
the Australian capital of Canberra on April 24.
 

Australian organisers on Monday said they were re-routing
the flame from the heart of the capital Canberra, amid fears of
clashes between pro-China and pro-Tibet demonstrators.
 

Releasing the route of the Thursday relay, organiser Ted
Quinlan said he was disappointed the torch would not now travel
through major city areas and would stick to main roads in front
of the Australian War Memorial and Parliament House.
 

"Those (city) streets don't lend themselves to a very
secure torch relay," Quinlan told local radio.
 

"By overseas experience it's obvious that we have to do
something about making sure that we can keep the full convoy
secure all of the way, every metre."
 

Organisers said the Australian torch relay would start at
8.45 a.m. (2245 GMT, Wednesday) after a dawn fireworks display,
sticking to wide roads easily secured by police. Chinese
paramilitary torch attendants have been barred from any
security role.
 

 Foreign Minister Stephen Smith said he feared an outbreak
of "football hooliganism" at the relay, following clashes
during stopovers in Europe and the Americas. The flame arrived
in Kuala Lumpur on Monday.
The torch is scheduled to go to South Korea and then to North
Korea on April 28 before heading to Vietnam, whose prime
minister has warned "hostile forces" may try to disrupt the
relay in Ho Chi Minh City.
 

The state-run Vietnam News Agency reported on Sunday night
that Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung discussed preparations for
the April 29 event with local authorities and other ministries.
 

"Vietnam's social security and order are stable but hostile
forces always attempt to disturb the situation and make harm to
the country's prestige on the international arena," the report
quoted Dung, who was installed in June 2006 as Vietnam's
youngest premier, as saying.
 

The term "hostile forces" is used by the government to
describe its political opponents opposed to one-party rule.