The besieged Olympic flame is about make its way along the barricaded streets of Canberra – with thousands of pro-Tibetan and pro-Chinese supporters expected to show up.

You’d have to have been in hibernation not to have noticed that the torch’s global journey has been hounded by controversy.

Demonstrators have tried to put the flame out and to wrestle it from the torchbearers. Officials have whisked the torch onto buses mid-relay and it’s disappeared down side streets.

It started with pro-Tibet demonstrators, but quickly large number of pro-China supporters appeared en masse. This relay – the longest in Olympic history – has been far from a parade and celebration of all things Olympic and sporting.

And there’s disturbing news this week that Nepali police and soldiers will be allowed to shoot protesters when the torch heads up Mt Everest.

Police and soldiers "have been given orders to stop any protest on the mountain using whatever means necessary, including use of weapons," Nepal's Home Ministry spokesman Modraj Dotel said, adding that the use of deadly force was authorized only as a last resort.

The plan is for the torch to be carried to the summit of Everest sometime in early May. Climbers, who it’s feared may unfurl Free Tibet flags, have been banned from the mountain during that time.

Anyway, as the torch arrived at an air force base in Canberra this morning, 23 April 2008, pro-Tibetan protestors in Sydney were beaming laser messages onto the city's Harbour Bridge, according to Reuters.

The Australian Government and Chinese officials have been clashing about who will be protecting the torch. And whatever happens in Canberra, it’s unlikely this leg of the seven continent relay will pass without a hitch.

Amnesty International Australia supporters will be at the relay in Canberra peacefully expressing concern about China's human rights violations and its failure to improve things in the run-up to the Olympics.

We believe everyone, from all sides of every debate, has the right to peacefully voice their opinion. That's freedom of expression – unfortunately it's something you don't get a lot of inside Mainland China. Just ask the scores of human rights defenders who did speak out on all sorts of issues – like democracy and religious freedom – and are now behind bars.

Meanwhile, today’s top story on the China Daily website is the news that Jin Jing, the Chinese disabled fencer who was attacked by protestors trying to grab the torch during the Paris leg of the relay, has been invited to visit France again.

French President Nicholas Sarkozy on Monday invited disabled Chinese torchbearer Jin Jing … to visit France again "to make up for the pain you have suffered".