HONG KONG — Runners are carrying the Olympic torch through Hong Kong in a steady drizzle.

A large flag-waving crowd is outnumbering protesters who held Tibetan flags and signs calling for democracy and human rights in China.

About 30 torch supporters pushed and shoved a dozen police surrounding a university student holding a Tibetan flag.

Police eventually put the student into a police van and took her to a police station to protect her from the crowd, which was also yelling obscenities at her.

The eight-hour relay through canyons of skyscrapers was expected to be a big challenge for the leaders and police in the Chinese territory.

The torch was finally back on Chinese soil, and Beijing wanted no repeat of the protests and chaos that disrupted the flame during its 20-nation overseas tour.

Everyone was encouraged to wear red to show their support for the torch, and about three-thousand police were deployed to defend the flame.