Demonstrators meet in san francisco this morning ahead of torch relay
Post Date: Wed, 09 Apr 2008 09:02:37 -0700
Thousands of protesters converged on San Francisco early this morning as the city braced itself for the lunchtime start of the Olympic torch relay...
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/apr/09/olympi...
Demonstrators meet in san francisco this morning ahead of torch relay (Abstract text format)
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Oly mpics 2008
11.30pm BST / 6.30pm ET
San Francisco authorities forced to shorten torch relay route
Follow the relay as it unfolded on Deadline USA
Dan Glaister in San Francisco and Tania Branigan in Beijing
guardian.co.uk, Wednesday 9 April 2008 23.32 BST
A man carrying a Tibetan flag is attacked by pro-China supporters awaiting the start of the Olympic torch relay in San Francisco. Photograph: Robyn Beck/AFP/Getty
The San Francisco leg of the Olympic torch relay descended into farce after the authorities cut the route in half and hustled the torch away from waiting protestors and supporters of the Beijing Games by driving it a mile inland. Officials also cancelled the closing ceremony at the San Francisco Bay waterfront. Another one was due at an undisclosed location. At the opening ceremony preceding the afternoon's relay, the first torchbearer took the flame from a lantern brought to the stage and held it aloft before quickly departing again behind the scenes and into a warehouse. It was unclear exactly what had happened to the torch - with even the news channels' helicopters unable to find it. After a 40-minute hiatus, during which rumour spread among the waiting crowd of thousands gathered along the waterfront route, the flame reappeared about a mile inland, away from protestors and the media. Authorities, apparently in a last minute decision to avoid the trouble that had plagued the torch on its parade through London and Paris, cut the 6-mile route in half to three miles. After the re-start of the curtailed relay two lines of police motorcycle riders hugged the runners as they made their way through the streets. But despite attempts to keep the torch out of trouble, television pictures showed protesters clashing with police along the route. Outside the AT&T Park baseball stadium where the Journey of Harmony had been due to start, vociferous supporters and opponents of the Games exchanged chants and accusations as they awaited the arrival of the torch. The bad temper evident at the gathering may have persuaded authorities of the wisdom of rerouting the parade. Unlike the previous legs of the torch's journey, protestors opposed to China's policies in Darfur, Tibet and elsewhere were outnumbered by pro-Chinese demonstrators. The two sides traded insults and accusations in a manner befitting a playground, with chants of "Liar! Liar!" going back and forth. Before the scheduled start of the parade, hundreds of Tibetan activists gathered in the city's Ferry Park. Not far off, supporters of the Chinese Olympics were watching a mass display of tai-chi. Officials estimated that at least 6,000 protesters had turned out to line the 6-mile route along the city's waterfront, while a pro-Chinese business group printed 10,000 T-shirts for handing out to the public during the day. The day started with Burmese monks marching across the Golden Gate bridge, originally part of the route for the torch relay. Soon after, rallies against China's policies in Tibet and Darfur started up close to the waterfront route of the relay. One bystander, Peter Chen, holding a cardboard Olympics flag, said he had come to the display after seeing the unruly scenes in Paris and London. "I saw the protests and it made me angry. People can express their point of view but not in a violent way. I hope people will look at the bigger picture. There is much more freedom in China than there was 20 years ago." In Ferry Park, Tenzin Subhar, whose parents fled Tibet for India before moving to the US 15 years ago, said she had come to draw attention to the human rights abuses perpetrated by China in Tibet. Holding a placard bearing the symbol of the Olympic rings in the form of handcuffs, she said: "I'm very thankful. The people in Tibet need to know they are being listened to." Tagudh Youngdoung, an organiser of the Free Tibet Team, said that the events in Tibet in March had acted as a "spark in the forest". He said: "We are not against the Olympics or torch bearers. [But] just chanting and holding prayer vigils - the world has become tired of that ... perhaps if you push, people will look a little further into what is going on." The eve of the relay was marked by a rally for Tibet attended by Archbishop Desmond Tutu and the actor Richard Gere. Thousands listened as the archbishop compared the repression in Tibet to the apartheid era in South Africa. "Thank you for continuing that tremendous tradition to stand for freedom," he said. "We want to tell the dictators and the oppressors of this world, hey, you have already lost." After San Francisco, the only US city to host the torch, the relay passes on to Argentina. In China, government officials warned against disruption of the relay as the torch reaches Tibet. "If someone dares to sabotage the torch relay in Tibet and its scaling of Mount Everest, we will seriously punish him and will not be soft handed," said Qiangba Puncog, governor of the Tibetan Autonomous Region.
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San Francisco authorities forced to shorten torch relay route
This article was first published on
guardian.co.uk
at 23.32 BST on Wednesday 9 April 2008.
It was last updated at 23.32 BST on Wednesday 9 April 2008.
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