Three US activists stage protest on Golden Gate Bridge
Tuesday April 08 2008
Three pro-Tibet activists scaled the cables of San Francisco's famed Golden Gate Bridge yesterday and hung banners to protest the arrival of the Olympic torch in the city tomorrow.
"They are doing it at all the landmarks in the cities that are hosting the Olympic torch," said Tenzing Dasang, a member of Students for a Free Tibet, an activist group which he said planned the action.
The three apparently experienced climbers hung the banners between three parallel red cables after a careful ascent. Two helpers below on the bridge were later detained, Mr Dasang said.
"One World, One Dream: Free Tibet," read one banner, protesting China's recent crackdown on Tibet. A second sign read "Free Tibet 08".
Earlier, authorities said several hundred police officers will form a "security blanket" around the Olympic torch when it passes through the narrow streets of San Francisco, amid fears the city could see more violent protests than those which accompanied the flame through London and Paris.
As a result of the controversy -- and the obvious failure of the French security bubble -- the route of the torch has been shortened dramatically to a six-mile loop along the San Francisco waterfront and will not stop in Chinatown or on the Golden Gate Bridge.
About 200 activists have organised their own "human rights torch relay" in anticipation of tomorrow's event.
Chinese community leaders in San Francisco have questioned whether countries castigating China's human rights record have the moral authority to do so, and say Chinese Americans are proud to welcome the Olympic torch. (© The Times, London, and agencies)
- LOS ANGELES
