Police step up patrols as protestors gather for torch relay

Apr 9, 2008, 17:33 GMT

San Francisco - Police in San Francisco stepped up patrols Wednesday as thousands of protestors gathered along the city's waterfront where the Olympic torch relay was set to take place.

The San Francisco parade is the only US stop for the torch and was preceded by two days of events focusing on China's crackdown on Tibet.

Officials in the famously liberal city are anxious to avoid the scenes of mayhem that dogged the torch's passage through Paris and London over the weekend, conferring with French and British authorities to devise a strategy.

Adding to the volatile mix is the large emigre Chinese community in San Francisco, many of whom see China's hosting of the Olympic games as a source of national pride.

City officials said they are weighing changes to the proposed 10- kilometer-route along the San Francisco Bay, but on Wednesday morning ambulances were seen at strategic points along the thoroughfare while police teams were placing barriers to control the crowds.

'We are trying to accomplish two goals here. One is to protect the right to free speech and the other is to ensure public safety, and here in San Francisco we are good at both of those things,' said Nathan Ballard, a spokesman for Mayor Gavin Newsom.

Police Chief Heather Fong said officers, including some who will run with torchbearers, have watched events unfold in other countries and are adjusting their strategy.

'What is most important is at the end of the day, the people are peaceful and safe and it's a successful situation,' Fong said. 'If there's violence and people get hurt, then it hurts every opinion that is out there.'

Actor Richard Gere and Nobel Peace Laureate Archbishop Desmond Tutu led peaceful protests in San Francisco Tuesday night.

Earlier, other demonstrators lit what they called the Tibetan Freedom Torch.

Most protests groups have pledged not to disrupt the torch relay, but to use the globally televised even to draw attention to China's alleged human rights abuses. The tone for the protests was set Monday when three activists climbed the suspension cables of the Golden Gate Bridge to unfurl banners in support of Tibet.

'It is fantastic what people have been doing,' Tutu told reporters at the Candle Lights for Human Rights vigil at the city's United Nations Plaza.

The scenes of mayhem prompted speculation that future legs of the global torch tour would be cancelled to avoid further anti-China protests. But Members of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) said Wednesday that they have ruled out cutting short the protest-plagued international portion of the Olympic torch relay.

Mario Vazquez Rana, president of the Association of National Olympic Committees, said after sharing dinner Tuesday night with IOC president Jacques Rogge that Rogge was '100-per-cent convinced' not to make any changes to the international relay.

IOC vice-president Thomas Bach said he expected 'that it will continue' and Swedish executive board member Gunilla Lindbergh also shared this view.

'My opinion is that we have to do exactly what we planned. The torch has to complete its international trip,' she told dpa.