Pro-democracy protests over imprisoned Nobel prizewinner

• Workers prepare the Nobel Peace Prize laureate exhibition "I Have No Enemies" for Chinese dissident Liu Xiaobo at the Nobel Peace Center in Oslo

Chanting "Freedom to Liu! Freedom for China!" about 100 protesters tried to deliver a petition with more than 100,000 signatures urging the dissident's release from a Chinese prison before being diverted by police away from the embassy gates.

The protest came on the eve of the Nobel prize ceremony, where the 54-year-old Liu will be represented by an empty chair.

Today's ceremony will be the first time the peace prize will not be handed out since 1936, when Adolf Hitler prevented German pacifist Carl von Ossietzky from accepting the award.

Liu, a literary critic and democracy activist, is serving an 11-year sentence on subversion charges brought after he co-authored a bold call for sweeping changes to Beijing's one-party communist political system.

Previously almost unknown even within China, he has been transformed into a cause-celebre among global rights activists and a source of curiosity to young, Internet-savvy Chinese.

Chinese authorities have placed Liu's supporters, including his wife Liu Xia, under house arrest to prevent anyone from picking up his prize.

China was infuriated when the prestigious $1.4 million prize was awarded to Liu, describing it as an attack on its political and legal system. It said the country's policies will not be swayed by outside forces in a "flagrant interference in China's sovereignty".

Amnesty Norway, which organised the peaceful protest, said it was not surprised the Chinese Embassy refused to accept the petition after previous futile attempts.

"Liu should not be jailed for his words. It's against the Chinese Constitution," said Renee Xia, a demonstrator. "The Chinese government is violating its own constitution by criminalising free speech."

China has also put pressure on foreign diplomats to cancel their attendance at Friday's ceremony. China and 18 other countries have declined to attend, including Russia, Pakistan, Iran, Venezuela and Cuba. At least 45 of the 65 embassies in Oslo that were invited have accepted the invitation.

Nobel committee secretary Geir Lundestad said countries gave various reasons for not attending, but some were "obviously affected by China".

China warned that attendance at the ceremony would be viewed as a sign of disrespect.

The Norwegian-Chinese Association was planning a pro-China demonstration outside the Norwegian Parliament during Friday's Nobel ceremony.

"We are against the Peace Prize for Liu Xiaobo.It creates a conflict between China and the rest of the world," group spokesman Ya Ming Yuen said. "China has made enormous progress and is much more democratic now compared to 10 years ago."

Ya said he expected about "a hundred" people at today's protest, and vehemently denied Mr Lundestad's claim that Chinese living in Norway had been pressured by the embassy to participate.

Meanwhile, in Beijing, China handed out its newly inaugurated Confucius Peace Prize - hastily created as a riposte to the Nobel - honouring former Taiwanese Vice President Lien Chan. In a chaotic ceremony Mr Lien was absent and his aides seemed not to know anything about it. Instead, a small, unnamed girl accepted it on his behalf.

Several news websites, including the BBC's were blocked in China yesterday, apparently to blot out any possible coverage of the ceremony.