SAN FRANCISCO—New clashes that broke out in Tibet threaten to increase the bitterness of protests during the San Francisco leg of the Olympic Torch Relay as it passes through the only North America stop en route to Beijing.
At least eight Tibetans may have been killed on Thursday night when paramilitary police clamped down on protesters defying a heavy security crackdown in Sichuan province, southwest China. Police gunned down Tibetans and used automatic weapons on the crowds, according to Tibetan support groups.
The Chinese state-run media acknowledged the most recent clashes that erupted in the Tibetan areas of China, Ganzi (Garze) Prefecture, a largely ethnic Tibetan area, but reported that police fired only warning shots to protect officials.
The news is likely to aggravate pro-Tibetan protesters a few days ahead of San Francisco's relay of the Beijing Olympic Torch on Apr. 9.
Meanwhile, officials in San Francisco announced that several law enforcement agencies will assist the San Francisco Police Department to increase public safety; the California Highway Patrol and the San Francisco County Sheriff's Department are among the local, state, and federal agencies that will ramp up security during the Olympic Torch Relay.
The assistance from those agencies will ensure public safety among a high turnout of attendees, including a large number of protesters. First amendment rights will be protected, but safety will be a primary concern, according to agency officials. An airplane and helicopters will be also hovering above the torch's route.
During the past few weeks human rights activists have been handing out leaflets and flyers outside City Hall and opposing the arrival of the Beijing Olympic Torch in San Francisco. Activists have been also calling for international support for human rights in Tibet, Burma, and Darfur, and for the Falun Gong practitioners in China.
The Beijing Torch Relay is scheduled to begin at 1 p.m. on Wednesday with an opening ceremony at McCovey Cove, outside the AT&T Ballpark stadium, home of the San Francisco Giants. The route will then proceed north to Third St. in the San Francisco Financial District, along the Embarcadero waterfront, all the way to Fisherman's Wharf, and it returns back on the Embarcadero for a concluding ceremony at Justin Herman Plaza.
The Tibetan Association of Northern California expect up to 5,000 protesters, according to its president, adding that many people will be coming from near and far. A candlelight vigil will be held on the eve of the torch's arrival. Movie star Richard Gere and Nobel Peace Laureate Archbishop Desmond Tutu will address the gathering.
Activists working to end the genocide in Darfur have also been urging people to join the protest of the Olympic Torch as it passes through the city. Darfur campaigners paid for signs which were inserted into 418,000 copies of the San Francisco Chronicle which read: "China: Extinguish the Flames of Genocide in Darfur." Onlookers will be encouraged to hold up and wave the signs along the torch route.
Codepink Women for Peace announced via email that they will stand in solidarity with their oppressed sisters and brothers to protest the Olympic Torch relay in San Francisco. Members of the group will dress as the Statue of Liberty along the torch route with bold pink sashes.
Although protesters will be granted full access on the sidewalk along the route as well as larger spaces for organized groups that have received city permits, police announced that the route is subject to change "as deemed necessary" by the International Olympic Committee, the Beijing Olympic Committee on Games, the U.S. Olympic Committee, or by San Francisco city officials.
Last week, the San Francisco Board of Supervisors passed a resolution, voting 8 to 3 to greet and welcome the torch with "alarm and protest at the failure of China to meet its past solemn promises to the international community, including the citizens of San Francisco, to cease the egregious and ongoing human rights abuses in China and occupied Tibet."
Along with the Beijing Olympic Torch, the resolution greets two other torches that will also arrive in the next few days in San Francisco: A Tibetan Freedom Torch and a Global Human Rights Torch.