Show San Francisco takes Olympic torch route off-route Karl Vick The Washington Post PostIn PostIn In the end San Francisco punted Spooked by protests that overwhelmed the Olympic torch relays in Paris and London earlier in the week weck city officials on Wednesday opted to simply avoid the thousands who turned out to demonstrate both for and against China at the flames flame's only stop in North America as it makes its way to the Beijing Summer Games Abandoning a planned long-planned bayside bayside bayside bay- bay side route lined with protesters wishers well-wishers and the merely curious officials officials took elaborate measures to sneak the torch into a different part of the city It emerged on another main thoroughfare layers of uniformed dark-uniformed police took up positions flanking honorary runners who at times were waving to empty sidewalks The result was a strangely bifurcated day an orderly if somewhat t lonely procession unfolding in jn one part pari of the city while th the people who wh turned out out forthe P ep At through t th e motions for or the p political causes that tha brought them int into th the streets where they were r Teft ft to 11 It sort of misses the point said Judy A. A Bernstein who traveled fr from m San Diego to protest on behalf of Save Darfur a group that advocates pressuring Beijing to promote to-promote peace in Sudan where China has significant clout So they hid it so nobody saw it There w were we're re signs elsewhere however that the bad publicity surrounding the Beijing Games was having some effect Mario Vazquez Rana president of the Association of National Olympic Committees said We Weare Weare Weare are slightly overwhelmed by the torch relay and I think it will be necessary to make some changes in inthe inthe inthe the future Speaking after an association meeting and alluding to Tibet he said A change is needed because today's situation is unacceptable in ina a country that organizes the Games There are always problems so there is no need to add further problems ms by having to worry about the torch around the whole world In London the office of British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said that he will not attend the opening ceremonies Aug 8 in Beijing But Buta a spokeswoman said that Brown is not boycotting the Olympics and that he plans to attend the closing festivities On Wednesday the White WhiteHouse WhiteHouse WhiteHouse House said that Bush plans to 4 the Olympics but left open r th that he would skip the opening ceremonies Asked whether r Bush will go to that portion of the Games White House press secretary Dana Perino demurred citing the fluid nature of a schedule for a foreign trip this far away The mood in San Francisco was largely anticlimactic I took my kids out of school early to see it it said Greta Keegan waiting patiently on a curb along the announced route with Cormac 9 and Meave who turned 12 on Wednesday By 2 pm p.m. there was no sign of the torch but Keegan a native of Ireland took a philosophical view You Vou know what it is It Its It's an education Freedom of speech And AndI I just went for my interview for citizenship today Free speech there was plenty of Protests are held in San Francisco almost daily and if the prospect of confrontation was too much for city and Olympic officials it was catnip to the activists who brought the streets alive for much of the warm sunny day Im actually surprised how many people have come out for this said Dennis Chan 17 t who carried a sign reading Another Average Asian Guy For a Free Tibet A high school student from Temple City Calif he had turned out to help pressure Beijing to end its crackdown Tibet Pro-Tibet activists were the most prominent Wednesday a situation that irked the thousands of Chinese Americans who wanted to promote the Games in their homeland Im not brainwashed said Ke Zhan 36 of Palo Alto Calif I have my PhD from the United States I Ido Ido Ido do research at Stanford I have my myown myown myown own judgment And I support the Olympics itself The spirit of the Olympics should be honored Opposite the Ferry Building in the park where several dozen Chinese Americans performed tai taichi taichi taichi chi yards from Tibet supporters practicing their slogans lawyer Edward Liu drew a crowd by confronting reporters Ive been here since 1970 and you know something It pains me met the bigotry I see in these mood swings you see in America the China-bashing China he said to assent from the crowd its media I China may not give freedom of access he said but you know what Well We'll get there Its It's our problem It was an extremely diverse protest Forrest Schmidt 31 held helda a sign warning the United States I to lighten up on China We cant can't cloak hegemony and imperialism inthe in inthe r the rags of human rights freedom r rand and democracy and have it be anything but imperialism he said Free Tibet You Just Stole read the sign Mark Beauchamp held over his head J David Gemigniani strutted along I t tin in white pinstriped suit under a sign reading I Cant Can't Afford an Actual Sign Oh Im I'm retired he said I just play I live in in San l fral Francisco i San J. J e 0 s' s d ji 1 jiA Francisco is Oz A longtime psychiatric nurse he goes to a lot of protests Both sides J J I laugh at this sign Gemigniani said P PIt It allows for free speech without fisticuffs i Staff writers Kevin Sullivan I Ill in ll London and Maureen Fan Fall in ill Being Beijing contributed to this report I |