Olympic torch's trip to S.F. has protesters, supporters fired up

Worldwide protest over China's human rights record and actions in Tibet blocked the path of the Olympic torch's worldwide run this week, just before its trek through San Francisco.

The torch was snuffed out and then had to be rescued by bus in Paris on Monday after an onslaught by pro-Tibet demonstrators armed with water and fire extinguishers.

The torch – intended to circle the globe as a symbol of peace and unity ahead of the Beijing Olympic Games this summer – is expected to run into another gantlet of protesters in San Francisco on Wednesday.

On Monday in San Francisco, three representatives of Students For a Free Tibet scaled 150 feet up cables along the south tower of the Golden Gate Bridge and unfurled a Tibetan flag and banners reading "One World. One Dream" and "Free Tibet 08." Before being arrested, the trio staged a telephone news conference from high above San Francisco Bay.

A variety of voices on China will be heard on Wednesday in San Francisco, where thousands of Chinese Americans and others supporting the Beijing Olympics are expected to line up alongside critics of China's human rights policies in Tibet and elsewhere. Organizers expect 6,000 people and predicted a peaceful demonstration.

San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom has said there will be 10 times as many pro-torch demonstrators.

About 500 Sacramento-area Chinese Americans will bus to the Bay Area on Wednesday to honor the torch along its six-mile San Francisco route – the torch's only North American appearance.

"A lot of people in the Chinese community feel the U.S. media has been one-sided about the Tibet issue," said Sacramento co-organizer Grace Liu, a U.S. citizen from Jinan, China. "We're not protesting anything – we support the Beijing Olympic Games; we think it's a great opportunity for the world to know China."

Protesters want the United States to boycott the Olympics.

"That's like boycotting the dreams of athletes all over the world, and 1.3 billion people in China," Liu said. "Since San Francisco is the torch's only stop in North America, we want to be there to witness the moment."

Tenzin Youdon of the UC Davis chapter of a Students for a Free Tibet was among those celebrating the Golden Gate Bridge drama Monday.

"What they did was very brave – and made sure nobody was hurt in the process," said Youdon, 28, whose grandparents fled Tibet in 1959, following the Dalai Lama to India.

"My mom's grandfather was tortured," she said. "Unless China comes to some agreement on Tibet, they don't have any right to host the Olympics."

Protesters "are not just Tibetans," Youdon added, "but everybody who wants basic human rights in China and free speech."

Protesters want to pressure China into talks with the Dalai Lama and to allow Tibetans to govern themselves, said Ngodup Tsering, president of the Tibetan Association of Northern California and a protest organizer.

Chinese officials said about two dozen protesters were killed in Tibetan riots this spring. Tsering said the number is at least 140.

"The Dalai Llama calls for autonomy within the frame of the Chinese constitution – he feels it's better for Tibetans and Chinese people to live together, but some Tibetans want total independence," Tsering said.

Northern California's 2,000 Tibetans often split along generational lines, with young people wanting total independence.

Samten Ponsar, a manufacturing specialist from Davis, said he's among 1,000 Tibetan refugees from India who resettled in the United States in 1990 and '91.

"I don't think the torch needs to be stopped," said Ponsar, 42, who plans to attend a candlelight vigil at San Francisco City Hall tonight featuring Richard Gere and Desmond Tutu.

"Everyone should be allowed to compete, including Tibetans," he said.

Ponsar and others said they have nothing against the Chinese people, just the regime.

Ivey Lee, a retired sociology professor at California State University, Sacramento, who plans to be in San Francisco on Wednesday, said she fears a protest along the torch route could backfire.

"China was trying to use the Olympics to gradually come out to the world, and I'm afraid this kind of protest will turn China inward again," said the 62-year-old Lee. "Some 200 million Chinese are learning English to actually welcome visitors to their homeland."

Lee said she's "very angered" by news accounts of the March 14 riot in Lhasa, Tibet, that didn't comment "on how the riots started with Chinese being dragged off bicycles and pummeled."

But Lee added that China didn't help itself "by closing the doors (to media) when the riot got out of hand.

"I know the Olympics have always been politicized, but the original idea behind the Olympics is unity, harmony, putting aside differences," Lee added.

Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Rodham Clinton is not convinced. On Monday she urged President Bush to boycott the Beijing Games' opening ceremonies this summer unless China makes "major changes."

Clinton mentioned not only the violence in Tibet but also China's lack of pressure on Sudan to stop "the genocide in Darfur."

Meanwhile, California Sen. Dianne Feinstein introduced a resolution in Congress calling on China to negotiate with the Dalai Lama.

About the writer:

• Call The Bee's Stephen Magagnini, (916) 321-1072. The Associated Press contributed to this report.