CANBERRA, Australia — Organizers claimed victory Thursday after torchbearers skirted pockets of protesters under a sky where a plane had spelled out "Free Tibet" to carry the Olympic flame through Australia's capital.

Although seven people were arrested, organizers said the Canberra leg of the relay compared favorably to other cities, where the event was disrupted by protesters. The next stop is Nagano, Japan, where the route has already been truncated. From there, the flame goes to Seoul and North Korea's capital Pyongyang before it reaches Chinese soil in Hong Kong on April 30.

Protests over China's human rights record and its crackdown in Tibet have turned the relay into a contentious issue.