| First in London and now in Paris, pro-Tibet protesters are disrupting the Olympic torch relay, and in the case of Paris, they extinguished the flame on numerous occasions and eventually canceled the presentation.
The flame reaches San Francisco for its only American stop on Wednesday. Hundreds of police officers are expected to cover the parade, and the route has been shifted and altered in an attempt to outflank the expected protesters. In advance of this, 3 protesters have placed signs on the top of the Golden Gate Bridge. SFist has the story and is updating.
Update: (11:42): Nope, all three climbers are staying put. Those descending the suspension cables right now are just bridge workers. This will go on for a while.
KGO is reporting that seven people were arrested so far with regard to this protest.
Update (11:51 a.m.): More flags are being put up. The three protesters--one man, two women--still remain. Newcasters are desperate to know "how this could have happened?"
If you don't have to go to the Golden Gate Bridge, don't. It's heavily congested. Obviously.
The situation is essentially that the International Olympic Committee currently has the most leverage over the Chinese government's behavior in Tibet, and their human rights record generally. And so these protests and potential boycotts, most recently discussed by French President Nicolas Sarkozy, make more than a symbolic statement. Hillary Clinton is calling on George Bush to follow suit (which is unlikely, because he digs sports). Hold Fast Blog has a lot more.
Wednesday should be very interesting. Our SF bloggers will hopefully weigh in. |
