A special Olympic torch has reached the Mount Everest base camp in Tibet for an ascent to the world's highest peak as the flame makes its way to Beijing for the Summer Olympic Games.

Chinese students hold a huge Chinese flag as they wait Beijing Olympic torch's arrival at the Olympic Park in Seoul, South Korea, Sunday, 27 April 2008

The special torch is separate from the one used in the South Korean leg of the relay Sunday and which moves on to North Korea, Hong Kong and Macao this week.

South Korea deployed more than eight-thousand police to prevent disruptions during the torch's 24-kilometer relay through the capital, Seoul.

More than six-thousand Chinese waved red flags and shouted slogans in support of the games.  They far outnumbered anti-China demonstrators protesting against Beijing's actions in Tibet and its forced repatriation of North Korean refugees.

The torch run has been disrupted in other major cities by protesters condemning Chinese human rights practices, especially its forceful suppression of demonstrations in Tibet.

In Seoul, a man claiming to have fled North Korea poured flammable liquid over his body in an apparent attempt to set himself on fire but police stopped him. 

Meanwhile, Hong Kong has barred three human rights activists from abroad who planned to protest China's policies in Tibet during the torch relay on May 2nd.

The torch relay will end on August eighth at the Beijing Olympics opening ceremony.

Some information for this report was provided by AFP, AP, Reuters.