Torch security 'cost almost £750,000'

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The participation of the Chinese flame security team was agreed in advance but they had no executive powers, according to a Met briefing paper on the event.

Chaotic scenes were beamed around the world as the torch made its way through the capital, with some human rights protesters trying to extinguish the flame.

The Met said its officers took "appropriate and proportionate action" when "on occasions people attempted to breach the safety, security and safe passage of the torchbearer and convoy".

Television footage showed officers barging some protesters out of the path of the torch, while other demonstrators who tried to rush towards it were bundled over and pinned to the ground.

The briefing paper said the Chinese flame security team, which surrounded the torch in blue tracksuits, were part of the legal agreement between the Greater London Authority (GLA) and the Beijing Organising Committee of the Olympic Games (BOCOG) drawn up in 2007.

The chairman of the London Olympic Committee, Lord Coe, and London Mayor Ken Livingstone were among those who criticised the escorts, branding them as "thugs".

But Liberal Democrat mayoral candidate Brian Paddick said the report, distributed to members of the Metropolitan Police Authority (MPA), made it clear that Mr Livingstone knew about the guards before the event.