Torch relay in San Francisco draws massive protest
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SAN FRANCISCO, California (CNN) -- Thousands of protesters
demonstrated against China's human rights record and its crackdown in
Tibet after the Olympic flame arrived in San Francisco Tuesday.
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Chanting and waving flags, the protesters ended their march at the
Chinese consulate, where they sat in a dense group, holding flags and
banners, as police watched from nearby.
"Stop killing," one sign read, while another said, "No human rights,
no Olympics."
The protests came after passionate demonstrations in London and Paris
in which protesters tried to snuff the torch's flame and dozens were
arrested.
Meanwhile, the Olympic flame was being kept in an undisclosed location
in advance of Wednesday's planed 6-mile relay in San Francisco. Video
Watch how the city is preparing =BB
The run is the only U.S. appearance for the flame, wrapping up the
first week of a 23-city global tour.
Beijing organizers have said the monthlong international relay will
not be stopped despite the protests, but some International Olympic
Committee members have suggested an early end should be considered.
The IOC's executive board will discuss the torch relay "in general"
Thursday or Friday, but there is no proposal on the agenda to end the
global tour early, IOC spokeswoman Giselle Davies said. Video Watch
the flame get the red-carpet treatment =BB
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The official Beijing Olympics Web site, controlled by the Chinese
organizers, gives little indication of any torch relay disruption. It
characterizes the demonstrators as "a small number" of Tibetan
separatists.
Beijing blames the Dalai Lama and his followers for violence that
erupted in March amid protests for Tibetan independence.
China has drawn international criticism for its crackdown on the
demonstrations, which began peacefully on the 49th anniversary of a
failed Tibetan uprising.
China's Foreign Ministry Tuesday reacted forcefully to the torch relay
protests.
"We express our strong condemnation to the deliberate disruption of
the Olympic torch relay by Tibetan separatist forces regardless of the
Olympic spirit and the law of Britain and France," China spokeswoman
Jiang Yu said.
"Their despicable activities tarnish the lofty Olympic spirit and
challenge all the people loving the Olympic Games around the world."
The flame will return to China in May to begin a relay through the
host nation, ending in Beijing with the August 8 opening of the
Olympic Games.
One of the San Francisco torchbearers has dropped out of Wednesday's
relay because of fears of protests, a torch relay spokesman said.
David Perry, spokesman for the San Francisco Olympic Torch Relay, said
he did not want to release the name of the person.
"I understand anyone that might feel that they don't want to expose
themselves to something more than protest," Perry said.
On Monday, three protesters scaled San Francisco's Golden Gate Bridge
and raised a large banner.
Those who climbed the cables from which the bridge's deck is suspended
were members of Students for a Free Tibet, said group spokesman Tenzin
Dasang, 22. They unfurled a banner that read: "One World. One Dream.
Free Tibet."
The three climbers, along with four people on the ground, were charged
with felony conspiracy and misdemeanor nuisance charges, said
California Highway Patrol Officer Mary Ziegenbein. The climbers also
were charged with misdemeanor trespassing.
The Golden Gate Bridge protest came on the same day that thousands of
protesters forced an abrupt halt to the flame's passage through Paris
after 10 miles of the 17-mile planned route. Some stops were skipped
and the flame was transferred from the torch back to the lamp to be
carried on a bus several times to avoid protesters.
Protesters pierced the thick security bubble surrounding the
torchbearers, at times getting their hands on the torch itself.
The Paris demonstrations were similar to those Sunday in London, where
at least 36 people were arrested, according to London Metropolitan
Police. Protesters cited China's actions in Tibet, its policies on the
Darfur region of Sudan and the lack of civil rights and freedoms for
the Chinese people.
But other demonstrators, bearing Chinese flags, turned out in sup****t
of the Chinese government, and many others were spectators there just
to see the torch.
An Olympic committee member suggested Monday that the public relations
nightmare that has followed the Olympic flame on its way to the Summer
Games in Beijing may make 2008 the last time such an ambitious global
torch relay is attempted. Follow the torch relay itinerary =BB
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International Olympic Committee member Richard Kevan Gosper, who is
also chairman of the IOC's press committee, told re****ters he was
always opposed to a global tour for the flame.
"I'm a firm believer that we had the right template in the first
place, that the torch simply should go from Olympia, Greece, to the
host country," Gosper said.
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