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There have been scuffles outside a Tokyo theatre as a controversial documentary about Japanese dolphin hunting was screened for the first time in the capital.

About 30 protesters, who complain that the Oscar-winning film is anti-Japanese, briefly clashed with supporters of the movie before police stepped in to stop the unrest.

Officers stopped the two sides shoving each other outside the Image Forum, an art theatre in the city.

"Don't bully fishermen," a protester screamed through a loudspeaker and held a banner reading: "The anti-Japanese movie, The Cove, is a poison that discriminates Japanese."

The movie shows graphic scenes of the bloody but legal slaughter of dolphins filmed using hidden cameras, and nationalist groups say it should be banned because it is anti-Japanese.

But Kunio Suzuki, who slightly cut his face in the skirmish, said: "Watching movies is an individual right. If you criticise the film, watch it first."

Police were also deployed inside the cinema, where all tickets had been sold out to about 100 spectators for the first showing, according to the distributor Unplugged.

"Viewers were watching the film quietly. There was no act of protest inside the theatre," a company spokesman said.

Koyo Yamashita, owner of the theatre, said: "I'm relieved to screen The Cove today. I hope many people will visit our theatre while it's shown."

The distributor had scrapped planned screenings last month after right-wing protesters - known for their street demonstrations using megaphones - targeted cinemas.

The film has also now been shown at five more theatres in major Japanese cities, including Yokohama, southwest of Tokyo, where police and theatre officials barred five protesters from watching it.