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Protesters Scale Golden Gate Bridge •
San Francisco Prepares for Torch Protests •
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Olympic Torch Relay Descends Into Chaos
By Jerome Pugmire and Elaine Ganley
The Associated Press
Monday 07 April 2008
Paris' Olympic torch relay descended into chaos Monday, with protesters scaling
the Eiffel Tower, grabbing for the flame and forcing security officials to repeatedly
snuff out the torch and transport it by bus past demonstrators yelling "Free
Tibet!"
The relentless anti-Chinese demonstrations ignited across the capital with
unexpected power and ingenuity, foiling 3,000 police officers deployed on motorcycles,
in jogging gear and even inline skates.
Chinese organizers finally gave up on the relay, canceling the last third of
what China had hoped would be a joyous jog by torch-bearing VIPs past some of
Paris' most famous landmarks.
Thousands of protesters slowed the relay to a stop-start crawl, with impassioned
displays of anger over China's human rights record, its grip on Tibet and support
for Sudan despite years of bloodshed in Darfur.
Five times, the Chinese officials in dark glasses and tracksuits who guard
the torch extinguished it and retreated to the safety of a bus - the last
time emerging only after the vehicle drove within 15 feet of the final stop,
a track and field stadium. A torchbearer then ran the final steps inside.
Outside, a few French activists supporting Tibet had a fist-fight with pro-Chinese
demonstrators. The French activists spat on them and shouted, "Fascists!"
In San Francisco, where the torch is due to arrive Wednesday, three protesters
wearing harnesses and helmets climbed up the Golden Gate Bridge and tied the
Tibetan flag and two banners to its cables. The banners read "One World
One Dream. Free Tibet" and "Free Tibet."
On Tuesday, China condemned protests as "despicable," blaming them
on groups seeking to split Tibet from the country.
The 17.4-mile route in Paris started at the Eiffel Tower, headed down the Champs-Elysees
toward City Hall, then crossed the Seine before ending at the Charlety track
and field stadium.
Throughout the day, protesters booed trucks emblazoned with the names of Olympic
corporate sponsors, chained themselves to railings and hurled water at the flame.
Some unfurled banners depicting the Olympic rings as handcuffs from the Eiffel
Tower and Notre Dame cathedral. Others waved signs reading "the flame of
shame."
The Interior Ministry said police made 18 arrests.
Officers sprayed tear gas to break up a sit-in by about 300 pro-Tibet demonstrators
who blocked the route. Police tackled protesters who ran at the torch; at least
two activists got within arm's length before they were grabbed by police. Near
the Louvre, police blocked a protester who approached the flame with a fire
extinguisher.
One detained demonstrator, handcuffed in a police bus, wrote "liber"
on her right palm and "te" on the other - spelling the French
word for "freedom" - and held them up to the window.
With protesters slowing down the relay, a planned stop at Paris City Hall was
canceled. Earlier, French officials hung a banner declaring support for human
rights on the building's facade.
A spokesman for the French Olympic Committee, Denis Masseglia, estimated that
a third of the 80 athletes and other VIPs who had been slated to carry the torch
did not get to do so.
On a bus carrying French athletes, one man in a track suit shed a tear as protesters
pelted the vehicle with eggs, bottles and soda cans.
The chaos started at the Eiffel Tower moments after the relay began. Green
Party activist Sylvain Garel lunged for the first torchbearer, former hurdler
Stephane Diagana, shouting "Freedom for the Chinese," before security
officials pulled him back.
"It is inadmissible that the games are taking place in the world's biggest
prison," Garel said later.
Outside parliament, as the torch passed, 35 lawmakers protested, shouting "Freedom
for Tibet."
"The flame shouldn't have come to Paris," said Carmen de Santiago,
who had "free" painted on one cheek and "Tibet" on the other.
Pro-Chinese activists carrying national flags held counter-demonstrations.
"The Olympic Games are about sports. It's not fair to turn them into politics,"
said Gao Yi, a Chinese doctoral student in computer science.
France's former sports minister, Jean-Francois Lamour, stressed that though
the torch was extinguished along the route, the Olympic flame itself still burned
in a lantern where it is kept overnight and on airplane flights. A Chinese official
said that flame was used to re-light the torch each time it was brought aboard
the bus.
Pro-Tibet advocate Christophe Cunniet said he and other activists were detained
after they waved Tibetan flags, threw flyers and tried to block the route. Cunniet
said police kicked him, cutting his forehead. "I'm still dazed," he
said.
At least one athlete, former Olympic champion Marie-Jose Perec, was supportive
of the demonstrators. "I think it is very, very good that people have mobilized
like that," she told French television.
But other athletes and sports officials were bitterly dismayed.
"A symbol like that, carried by young people who want to deliver a message
of peace, should be allowed to pass," said the head of the French Olympic
Committee, Henri Serandour. "These games are a sounding board for all those
who want to speak about China and Tibet. But at the same time, there are many
wars on the planet that no one is talking about."
International Olympic Committee spokeswoman Giselle Davies agreed. "We
respect that right for people to demonstrate peacefully, but equally there is
a right for the torch to pass peacefully and the runners to enjoy taking part
in the relay," she said.
China's Foreign Ministry assailed the demonstrations. "We express our
strong condemnation to the deliberate disruption of the Olympic torch relay
by Tibetan separatist forces," Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu said
in a Web statement. "Their despicable activities tarnish the lofty Olympic
spirit and challenge all the people loving the Olympic Games around the world."
Jiang also disputed reports that the torch had to be extinguished several times,
calling them false. "To protect the security and dignity of the Olympic
torch under the circumstances there, the modes of relay were temporarily changed,"
she said. Jiang did not provide additional details.
Police had hoped to prevent the chaos that marred the relay in London a day
earlier. There, police had repeatedly scuffled with activists and 37 people
were arrested.
Beijing organizers criticized the London protests as a "disgusting"
form of sabotage by Tibetan separatists.
"The act of defiance from this small group of people is not popular,"
said Sun Weide, a spokesman for the Beijing Olympic organizing committee. "It
will definitely be criticized by people who love peace and adore the Olympic
spirit. Their attempt is doomed to failure."
French President Nicolas Sarkozy has left open the possibility of boycotting
the Olympic opening ceremony depending on how the situation evolves in Tibet.
Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner said Monday that was still the case.
Activists have been protesting along the torch route since the flame embarked
on its 85,000-mile journey from Ancient Olympia in Greece to the Aug. 8-24 Beijing
Olympics.
The round-the-world trip is the longest in Olympic history, and is meant to
highlight China's rising economic and political power. Activists have seized
on it as a platform for their causes.
The relay also is expected to face demonstrations in New Delhi and possibly
elsewhere on its 21-stop, six-continent tour before arriving in mainland China
May 4.
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Associated Press writers Nicolas Garriga, Angela Doland, John Leicester
and Alfred de Montesquiou contributed to this report.
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Protesters Scale Golden Gate Bridge
By Juliana Barbassa
The Associated Press
Monday 07 April 2008
San Francisco - Three people protesting China's human rights record and the
impending arrival of the Olympic torch climbed up the Golden Gate Bridge on
Monday and tied the Tibetan flag and two banners to its cables.
The banners read "One World One Dream. Free Tibet" and "Free
Tibet 08."
The protesters wore helmets and harnesses as they made their way up the cables
running next to the south tower of the famed span. The climb had the group suspended
about 150 feet above traffic.
Reached by cell phone as he dangled from the bridge, demonstrator Laurel Sutherlin
said he was worried that the torch's planned route through Tibet would lead
to more arrests and Chinese officials would use force to stifle dissent.
"The leaders of China have said they'll maintain order at all costs, and
we know what that means - bloodshed and violent oppression," he said. "If
the IOC allows the torch to proceed into Tibet they'll have blood on their hands."
The protesters later climbed down.
In all, seven were charged with conspiracy and causing a public nuisance, with
the three climbers facing additional charges of trespassing, said Mary Ziegenbien,
a spokeswoman with the California Highway Patrol.
The bridge protest's organizers said they'll remain faithful to their mission
of protesting without violence when the torch relay takes place Wednesday here,
its only North American stop, despite the disruptive action on the Golden Gate.
They said they wanted to take full advantage of the moment in the international
spotlight to get their message out.
"This is a life or death situation for Tibetans," said Yangchen Lhamo,
an organizer of Monday's banner hanging who is on the board of directors of
Students for a Free Tibet.
The torch's path around the globe already has been marked by protests against
China's policies toward Tibet, Sudan, Myanmar and Chinese dissidents, such as
practitioners of Falun Gong.
In Paris, organizers canceled the final leg of the Olympic run after chaotic
protests, snuffing out the torch and putting it aboard a bus.
Rallies, vigils and news conferences related to the torch's arrival have taken
place in San Francisco almost daily for the past several weeks. More are planned
over the next two days in anticipation of the torch's arrival.
About 80 torchbearers will carry the flame on a six-mile route along the San
Francisco Bay.
On Wednesday, government and law enforcement conferred in last-minute preparations
to keep rallies under control.
City leaders watched events around the world to develop a plan striking a balance
between protesters' rights to express their views and San Francisco's ability
to host a safe torch ceremony on Wednesday.
San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom and the police department said they reserved
the right to adjust the flame's route if necessary. The air space above the
city will be restricted during the relay, a federal aviation spokesman said.
In spite of preparations, the tumult around flame has left one of the torchbearers
worried.
Lorri Coppola, a champion racewalker whose body is being slowly shut down by
Lou Gehrig's disease, or Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, has met with the Dalai
Lama in the past, and understands the protesters' motives.
"They are doing it in the free countries because they know what might
happen should they try to protest in China!" she wrote by e-mail, as the
disease has cost her the ability to speak.
But ALS has left her weak, and she's afraid of getting hurt if activists are
out of control.
"I am concerned about my safety as I am not as strong as others due to
ALS," she wrote. "To create damage to property or danger to other
people is just as bad as the human rights violations they are protesting."
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Harrying the Torch
By John M. Glionna and Geraldine Baum
The Los Angeles Times
Tuesday 08 April 2008
San Francisco police study foreign protests
to prepare for hosting the Olympic flame relay.
San Francisco police expressed mounting concern about their ability to provide
safe passage for the Olympic torch relay after swarms of activists protesting
China's human rights record shut down the event in Paris on Monday, forcing
officials to repeatedly snuff out the iconic flame.
Traditionally a celebratory show that whets the appetite for the Olympics,
the torch relay this year has turned into a rolling - and intensifying - confrontation
over the Chinese government's religious and political persecution. The superpower's
recent actions in Tibet have been a particular focus.
Authorities in San Francisco, which on Wednesday will host the only North American
leg of the relay, said they had closely watched events in London on Sunday and
in Paris.
"We have a lot of concerns," said Sgt. Neville Gittens, a San Francisco
police spokesman. "I don't want to identify them, but this is not a contained
route security-wise, and there are lots of opportunities for trouble. We're
watching what's going on very closely and will make changes to our plans as
we figure them out."
Mayor Gavin Newsom met with Chinese officials in San Francisco on Monday to
review security measures, which include requiring all rank-and-file police officers
to report to work Wednesday. Meanwhile, at least two neighboring police departments
have been asked to provide reinforcements, the California Highway Patrol will
be on hand and the FBI is on standby, officials said.
In the Bay Area, the protest against China's recent violent crackdown in Tibet
began long before the torch's arrival. Three activists climbed the Golden Gate
Bridge on Monday morning to unfurl pro-Tibetan banners.
The Chinese government Tuesday condemned the demonstrations as the work of
a small number of Tibetan separatists.
"Their despicable activities tarnish the lofty Olympic spirit and challenge
all the people loving the Olympic games around the world," Foreign Ministry
spokeswoman Jiang Yu said in a statement on the ministry's website.
Chinese censors obstructed foreign TV broadcasts on the Paris protests, blacking
out BBC reports. Meanwhile, China's domestic media trumpeted the success of
the torch relay.
"French passion greets torch in Paris," declared a front-page headline
in Tuesday's China Daily.
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger had a different view, saying protesters should "show
how displeased they are with [China's] policies." Meanwhile, Sen. Hillary
Clinton (D-New York), suggesting that President Bush boycott the opening ceremony
in Beijing, said: "These events underscore why I believe the Bush administration
has been wrong to downplay human rights in its policy toward China."
In Paris, where police wrestling with street protesters is as expected a part
of the culture as the arrival of the new Beaujolais, trouble started early Monday.
The torch was barely a block into its journey when the athlete who was holding
it came upon scuffling protesters and climbed aboard a bus to wait out the melee.
So much chaos ensued that Chinese officials accompanying the torch snuffed
out its flame numerous times and torchbearers were bundled onto buses midway
through the 18-mile route.
The left-leaning mayor of Paris, Bertrand Delanoe, draped the ornate City Hall
with a banner reading, "Paris Defends Human Rights Around the World."
Meanwhile, pro-Tibetan banners were displayed all over the City of Light, and
protesters dangled Tibetan flags and banners with the interlocking Olympic rings
depicted as handcuffs from iconic Paris facades including Notre Dame and the
Eiffel Tower, despite police efforts to stop them.
But unlike London, where 37 people were arrested Sunday during the torch's
relay, Paris police were able to keep disrupters far enough away that no one
could snatch the torch from its bearer.
One activist was arrested just before he could grab the torch from former French
hurdler Stephane Diagana as he began the relay by bounding down the steps of
the Eiffel Tower. In all, 20 people were arrested in Paris on Monday, but all
but one were released within a few hours.
Repeating a tactic used in London, Parisian police created a human wall to
shield the 80 athletes taking turns carrying the torch. Nearly 3,000 police,
some in riot gear, were deployed along the route - in trucks, on foot, jogging,
on in-line skates and in boats along the Seine.
"There are more policemen out today than I have seen for a visiting president
or king," said Paul Galan, 53 and unemployed. He said he spontaneously
joined the fray near the Eiffel Tower after seeing dozens of people wearing
"Free Tibet" headbands. He bought one and began shouting at the passing
torchbearer and at a gaggle of Chinese students who were holding their country's
flag and singing.
"You can't come to this country - this of all countries that is known
for liberty and equality - and think that you can get us to support the Olympics
in a country that doesn't respect basic human rights," Galan said.
Many Chinese French said they were disappointed by the melees and the canceling
of parties and ceremonies. "They rained on our parade," said Wan Li,
a restaurant worker. "Literally, we lost our parade."
In San Francisco, officials said they expected as many as 6,500 protesters
Wednesday. Police would not discuss staffing levels, but a CHP spokesman said
two details totaling more than 100 officers would be deployed for the torch
relay.
One detail of CHP officers on motorcycles, in cars and on foot will help San
Francisco police keep the torch moving along the route, and the other will secure
the Golden Gate Bridge, the Bay Bridge, freeway offramps and onramps, and state
buildings.
That tightened security was not yet in place Monday when activists began climbing
suspension cables of the Golden Gate Bridge just after the morning rush hour.
Tethered together, the two men and a woman scaled the cables about 10:30 a.m.
to unfurl two banners. One said, "One World, One Dream, Free Tibet 08."
Seven protesters were arrested on the bridge, including four who aided the
climb, CHP spokeswoman Mary Ziegenbein said. All will be charged with felony
conspiracy and public nuisance, she said. The three climbers will face an additional
charge of trespassing.
San Francisco officials said they hoped such tactics would not be repeated
Wednesday. Rather than going down narrow streets as in Paris, they said, the
relay route would mostly be on the Embarcadero, a wide boulevard where they
hoped police would be able to keep protesters far away from the torchbearers.
"I'm all for any nonviolent, peaceable expression, and my fingers are
crossed that people will express themselves appropriately," said Aaron
Peskin, president of the San Francisco County Board of Supervisors. "If
that's not the case, San Francisco has the resources and expertise to deal with
things accordingly."
Newsom met for more than an hour Monday with Chinese ambassador Zhou Wenzhong.
Among the topics covered were flame attendants from China, whose presence angered
many London protesters.
Mayoral spokesman Nathan Ballard said the attendants would also be on hand
in San Francisco.
"But let me make it perfectly clear that San Francisco Police Chief [Heather]
Fong is in control of the scene and will be calling the shots," he said.
One torchbearer for the San Francisco relay said he wasn't intimidated by all
the discord at other relays.
"Quite the opposite," said Eric Burke, a science teacher at Luther
Burbank Middle School in Los Angeles. "It's so exciting to see people out
there expressing their opinion."
His wife, Stefani Tovar, said she was worried - but not about his security.
Her fear was that activists would block her view of her husband's big moment.
"I'm worried the protesters are going to hog up all the spaces,"
she said.
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Glionna reported from San Francisco and Baum from Paris. Times staff
writers Tim Reiterman in San Francisco and Evan Halper in Sacramento
also contributed to this report.
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