(Updates with quotes, arrest threat)

By Rob Taylor

CANBERRA, April 16 (Reuters) - Australian police received tough powers on Wednesday to search Olympic torch relay protesters for weapons, as Chinese students called for strong men to guard the flame against pro-Tibet "scum" and "running dogs", stoking fears of violent clashes in Canberra.

Zhang Rongan, of the Chinese Students and Scholars Association, said he hoped 10,000 students and Chinese Australians would travel to Canberra for the April 24 torch relay to guard against pro-Tibet or Falun Gong demonstrators.

"Are we going to let our motherland be shamed again? Overseas students in Australia, we have a responsibility to go defend our sacred torch. We can't let our sacred torch be put out on Australian soil!" Zhang said on the association website.

A separate email said the small Australian capital was a base for "Falun Gong and Tibetan splittists, Xinjiang splittists, and other anti-China separatists", accusing them of joining forces with sympathetic Burmese and Vietnamese demonstrators.

"This may be the first time during the relay that the number of ethnic degenerate scum and anti-China separatists exceed the Chinese," the email said.

"Can you allow the torch to be disregarded by these ethnic degenerate scum or anti-Chinese running dogs? Can you allow them to besmirch our motherland in front of the international media camera?" it said.

The torch kicked off its Asian leg on Wednesday in Islamabad.

The global torch relay has sparked chaos in San Francisco, London and Paris, where anti-China protesters tried to snuff out the flame and organisers extinguished or hid the torch to keep it safe.

TORCH ROUTE CUT

Lawmakers in the Australian capital have already cut back the route of next week's relay and on Wednesday approved special powers for police to stop and search protesters for weapons, as well as paint-filled balloons, eggs and fire extinguishers.

Pro-Tibet demonstrators expect at least 1,000 people to travel to the capital in a bid to interrupt the torch's path past major national buildings, including the parliament.

Local Canberra government Attorney-General Simon Corbell said he would not ask the national government to approve deployment of the military to help police guard the flame.

Prime Minister Kevin Rudd this week ruled out a security role for Chinese paramilitary guards who have run beside the torch in blue tracksuits during clashes in Europe and the United States.

Canberra torch relay chairman Ted Quinlan said the attendants could even face arrest if they "laid a hand on somebody".

Images of pro-Tibet protesters in London and Paris attacking the torch have prompted an outpouring of anger among Chinese nationals and ethnic Chinese globally, and unusually appear to have also sparked an officially sanctioned protest movement.

A letter from Chinese authorities circulated to students in Australia asked protesters to "prevent all actions that can in any way be detrimental to the image of China".

Zhang's website called for 150 "strong and energetic runners" to help guard the flame in Australia against Tibetan "splittists", although he hoped rival protest groups would be kept separate by police.

"We have told them do not take any action, but we are not sure what will happen," he told Australian radio. "We just hope they will protest peacefully, at least there won't be any violence. It's not what we want to see." (Additional reporting by Lucy Hornby in Beijing) (Editing by Michael Perry and David Fogarty)

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