It gets better. San Francisco didn't see eye to eye with protesters either Ms. Pelosi:
Olympic Torch Route Changed in San FranciscoBy JESSE McKINLEY
SAN FRANCISCO — The nation’s only chance to see the Olympic flame up close became an elaborate game of hide-and-seek here on Wednesday, as city officials secretly rerouted the planned torch relay, swarmed its runners with blankets of security and then whisked the torch to the airport in a heavily guarded motorcade.
The closing ceremony to mark the flame’s only North American stop was also effectively canceled in the face of thousands of protesters and supporters, who waited for hours in vain along the flame’s announced route.
Instead, officials decided that the flame would leapfrog protesters and travel on a central avenue about two miles away.
There, surrounded by uniformed officers and police on motorcycles, it was run in stop-and-start fashion toward the Golden Gate Bridge, chased by a throng of surprised residents and members of the news media.
“It was like the slowest car chase ever,” said Annie Ingamells, 42, a Briton who caught a glimpse of the flame with her daughter Ruby. “I guess that tactic worked.”
About four miles into the route, the torch was placed on a bus and taken to San Francisco’s airport, where it will fly to Buenos Aires, the next stop on the flame’s beleaguered international tour.
San Francisco went to elaborate lengths to avoid the messy chaos of the flame’s recent trips to London and Paris, employing hundreds of law enforcement officials, miles of barricades and, in the end, subterfuge.
Just before the flame’s planned debut, the police along the announced route put on riot gear, seemingly in expectation of the flame’s arrival.
Mayor Gavin Newsom said the decision to change the route was made shortly after the torch was lighted outside AT&T Park, when it was briefly held aloft by Chinese Olympic officials and then promptly taken into a waterfront warehouse. There, Mr. Newsom said, police officials said they could not assure that growing crowds along the route could be contained.
“It was a simple decision,” Mr. Newsom said. “Do we cancel the event or do we change the event to assure the safety and security of the torchbearers?”
All week, the city had tried to walk the fine line between demonstrators who planned to use the torch’s visit to protest the Chinese government’s human rights record and recent crackdown in Tibet and the area’s Chinese residents, which largely favored the torch relay.
In the end, however, both groups were caught off guard.
“They tricked us,” said Hao Shi, an engineer from Mountain View, Calif., who skipped work to support the relay.
Lhadon Tethong, the executive director of Students for Free Tibet, said the city had engaged in deception tactics that reminded her of those regularly used by Chinese authorities.
“I think it’s a shame for the mayor and the city,” Ms. Tethong said. “The people in this free and democratic country were not allowed to see the torch.”
Sun Weide, deputy director for communications for the Beijing Organizing Committee, said there were no plans to cancel the rest of the relay and called the San Francisco leg a success.
“I think the operation of the torch relay has been very smooth and very safe," Mr. Sun said.
Giselle Davies, director of communications for the International Olympic Committee, said that the topic of the relay would probably come up in meetings this week with national organizing committees but that “there are no plans for the route to change."
Relays earlier this week had devolved into scrums, with the torch nearly being grabbed by protesters in London and the flame having to be extinguished and evacuated via bus in Paris. The San Francisco Police Department called in state and federal agencies and officers from nearby cities to help patrol the relay route. More than 200 officers from the California Highway Patrol were in place to protect state property.
Along the Embarcadero, the waterfront boulevard where the torch was to have been run, protesters and supporters began arriving before dawn, creating a rainbow of colors and causes. Some linked China to the genocide in Darfur, and wore green T-shirts and held green balloons. Those in support of the Games, which begin in Beijing in August, gathered outside AT&T Park, the planned starting point of the relay, waving pink Olympic banners and Red Chinese flags.
As is often the way with protests in San Francisco, the relay also brought out a variety of activists.
“We thought this was a great opportunity for exposure,” said Caroline Nasella, 24, whose organization was In Defense of Animals. She stood holding a big banner that read “China: Stop Your Bloody Fur Trade!”
Some of the pro-China demonstrators had been brought from miles away.
Hai Ming, 37, a Chinese student of civil engineering at University of California, Davis, about 70 miles east, had come to the torch ceremony on a bus chartered by the Chinese consulate.
Mr. Hai said he disagreed with Tibetan protesters who have flooded San Francisco this week. “I think they are crazy,” he said. “The Chinese people are very peaceful. They wouldn’t do what they are accused of.”
As the start of the relay approached, thousands were lining the route, and several scuffles broke out between pro- and anti-China forces. Near Justin Herman Plaza, where the closing ceremony was to have been held, protesters broke through barricades. Outside the stadium, pro-Chinese groups surrounded and taunted a small group of people holding a Tibetan flag, ripping the banner from their hands and chanting “Liar, liar, liar.”
All of which apparently helped convince city officials that a peaceful march along the water was not going to be possible. Shortly after the flame’s lighting, it was taken into a waterfront warehouse, and the game of cat-and-mouse began.
After its abbreviated public appearance, the flame was taken to the airport, where a small closing ceremony was to be held.
Mr. Newsom defended his and his police department’s decision, but said he expected to be criticized for it anyway. “There were no major arrests, no international incidents,” he said. “Just a lot of hurt feelings..”
Matt Richtel, Neil MacFarquhar, Katie Thomas and Carolyn Marshall contributed reporting.
