Thousands cheer Olympic torch

Thousands cheered the Olympic torch in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, the last stop on the international leg of the flame’s relay.

The torch now will be taken to the Chinese territories of Hong Kong and Macao and then the mainland, including restive Tibet and the summit of Mt. Everest, and finally to the Games themselves in Beijing in August.

Vietnam had assured its communist ally and giant northern neighbor that it would not allow demonstrators to disrupt the event, but several demonstrators were detained earlier in Hanoi, the capital.

The torch relay has been conducted under heavy security or disrupted by protests over human rights issues and China’s treatment of Tibet on several stops.