The Olympic torch is one of the most recognizable symbols of international unity, but when it passes through San Francisco on the way to Beijing next month, it might spark more controversy than global goodwill.City leaders organizing the event are keeping secret even the most basic details, including its route and the time it starts, because of fears that protesters critical of the Chinese government will disrupt or stop it.
The city known worldwide for its spirit of protest and dissent has denied permits for demonstrators and plans to restrict them to "free-speech zones." People critical of China's human-rights record and spurred by the recent uprising and subsequent crackdown in Tibet are organizing alternative torch run events and rallies and, despite the restrictions, plan to line the route.
And today, the city's Board of Supervisors will consider a resolution critical of China's human rights record. The resolution urges the public official who represents the city during the ceremonies to "make publicly known that the 2008 Summer Games Torch is received with alarm and protest."
Supervisor Chris Daly, who introduced the resolution, said the magnitude of attention paid to the Olympic Games and the torch relay makes the event the appropriate platform to discuss human rights.
"If someone can look you in the face and tell you the Olympics are limited to the individual competitions that take place, well, that's a good poker player," Daly said.
In the days leading up to the Olympic torch event on April 9 in San Francisco, a Tibetan Freedom Torch and a Human Rights Torch that are traveling around the world will make stops for relays in San Francisco. Organizers expect thousands of people at those events.
Because of the controversy generated by China hosting the Olympics, city officials coordinating the main torch relay event plan to designate areas for people to protest the Chinese government or other issues. The designated "free-speech zones" have been used at large events in other cities but have not had a significant presence in San Francisco.
Daly is critical of those zones and says he might amend his resolution to condemn their use.
"I don't see why we should break from our pattern of how we handle mass protests or demonstrations for China," he said.
Mayor Gavin Newsom said he has "very serious concerns" about the situation in Tibet but said that the city is "privileged" to be the torch's only stop in North America and that the event should rise above political concerns.
"I separate the issue of Tibet ... and the Olympic Games," said Newsom, who added that the Games should be a time "to focus on the things that unite us and not divide us."
A spokesman for the United States Olympic Committee said he could not remember any instances in which protests accompanied the torch as it passed through U.S. cities.
"We absolutely anticipated that (in San Francisco), but that freedom of expression is something we very much stand for as a country," said Darryl Seibel, spokesman for the U.S. Olympic Committee.
The USOC recommended San Francisco as the city to host the torch because of the city's "wonderful Olympic tradition," many Olympians having lived and trained in the Bay Area, Seibel said. He also noted the city's cultural connections to China and the city's interactions with the committee in previous bids to host the Games.
Protests and alternate events are being strongly condemned by the Chinese Consulate in the city.
Defa Tong, the consulate's spokesman, said in a written statement, "The so-called Tibetan Freedom Torch Relay and Global Human Rights Torch Relay are manipulated by anti-China forces whose motive is to use the human rights and Tibet issues to attack China and disrupt the Beijing Olympic Games."
He called the events "attempts to politicize" the Games and said they violate the Olympic spirit.
Organizers of those events, who have come together and call themselves the "Expose Beijing Coalition," called the argument about politicizing the Olympics "disingenuous."
"Every Olympics has been political," said Giovanni Vassallo, president of the Committee of 100 for Tibet, an international group that believes China is illegally occupying Tibet. The Tibetan Freedom Torch event will be held the day before the Olympic event, and Vassallo said many people plan to protest the Olympic torch outside of the designated zones.
"I'm scratching my head on how the mayor can expect people to only be at the beginning and the end of route and voluntarily go into these zones," said Vassallo, who said actor Richard Gere, a member of the Committee of 100 for Tibet, has committed to attending their event.
Maria Daly, who is coordinating Human Rights Torch events in San Francisco and San Jose, said it is important to put pressure on the Chinese government through protests.
"This is a chance for the city of San Francisco, a city that upholds human rights and is internationally known as a city that upholds human rights ... to stand up and say something," Maria Daly said.
Clampdown: Police in China quell dissent in far-flung towns and villages as protests spread from Tibet to neighboring
The Olympic protests
The major concerns of groups protesting the Olympic torch include:
-- China's presence in Tibet and the recent crackdown on dissenters there;
-- The suppression of the Falun Gong spiritual movement in China;
-- China's policies related to Burma and the Darfur region of Sudan;
-- China's policies toward Taiwan;
-- General lack of freedoms in China, such as expression, assembly and the press.
For more information on the alternative torch runs, which are planned in the days leading up to the April 9 Olympic event, go to www.tibetanfreedomtorch.org and www.humanrightstorch.org
For information on the Olympic torch visit in San Francisco, go to www.sustainablejourney.org
Wyatt Buchanan,
Chronicle Staff Writer
San Francisco Chronicle, Page A-1, Wednesday, March 19, 2008
E-mail Wyatt Buchanan at: wbuchanan@sfchronicle.com
