http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/04/07/MN6L101A0U.DTL
Pro-Tibet protesters climb Golden Gate Bridge cables
Jonathan Curiel,Marisa Lagos, Chronicle Staff Writers
Monday, April 7, 2008
(04-07) 18:31 PDT SAN FRANCISCO -- Three demonstrators scaled cables near the south tower of the Golden Gate Bridge today and unfurled banners intended to draw attention to Chinese human rights violations in Tibet.
The protest by Students for a Free Tibet came the day before the Olympic Torch is to arrive in San Francisco for its only North American stop before this summer's games in Beijing.
The protesters, two men and a woman, scaled the cables around 10:30 a.m., and unfurled two banners around 11:20 a.m. One banner read, "One World, One Dream, Free Tibet 08," a play on the official slogan of this year's Olympic Games, "One World, One Dream." The other read simply, "Free Tibet."
The protesters also hung two Tibetan flags.
The activists used climbing gear to reach a spot 150 feet over the roadway and 370 feet above the water. They rappelled down about 1 p.m. and were arrested by California Highway Patrol officers. Iron workers will remove the banners and flags, authorities said.
California Highway Patrol spokeswoman Mary Ziegenbein said police arrested another four activists who did not scale the cables.
Bridge manager Kary Witt said cameras are trained on the span, but that authorities at first hadn't realized that protesters were about to climb the cables because they wore "ordinary" clothing and pushed a baby stroller. Their "Team Tibet" T-shirts were covered, and their banners and climbing gear were disguised by the stroller, he said.
Witt said the group came down after he went out with a bullhorn and pleaded with them. He told the activists that they were posing a danger to themselves and bridge employees.
It took the group an hour to get down, Witt said, partly because the female protester got caught in one of the banners and needed help getting untangled.
Arrested were Mac Sutherlin, 30, of Sausalito; Hannah Strange, 29, of Oakland; Duane Martinez, 27, of Sausalito; Alexandra Taub, 22, of Vancouver; Thomas Parkin, 38, of San Francisco; Tashi Sharzur, 47, of San Mateo; and Leslie Kaup, 31, of St. Paul, Minn. All were booked on suspicion of felony conspiracy and misdemeanor causing a public nuisance, the CHP said.
Sutherlin, Strange and Martinez, the three who climbed the cables, were also booked on suspicion of misdemeanor trespassing, the CHP said.
Yangchen Lhamo, a Tibetan American who lives in San Francisco, said Students for a Free Tibet hopes to persuade the International Olympic Committee to keep the torch out of Tibet this summer. It is scheduled to pass through Tibet on June 19-21.
Lhamo said the group planned other protests Tuesday and Wednesday that she said would be peaceful. On Tuesday, there will be an alternative torch event, the celebration of the Tibetan Freedom Torch, beginning at 11 a.m. at United Nations Plaza in San Francisco.
A number of visitors who were prevented from crossing the bridge for several hours appeared to take the protest in stride. Cincinnati resident Jim Hayden, 62, who is visiting San Francisco for the first time, said he was well aware of the city's reputation for political activity.
"If they're going to do it, do it here," Hayden said. "These people have their point of view, and find very strange ways to express them."
E-mail the writers at jcuriel@sfchronicle.com and mlagos@sfchronicle.com.
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http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/04/07/MN6L101A0U.DTL&tsp=1
Pro-Tibet protesters climb Golden Gate Bridge
Jonathan Curiel,Marisa Lagos, Chronicle Staff Writers
Monday, April 7, 2008
(04-07) 11:40 PDT SAN FRANCISCO -- Three demonstrators scaled the south tower of the Golden Gate Bridge this morning and unfurled a banner in a protest aimed at drawing attention to Chinese human rights violations in Tibet.
The protest comes two days before the Olympic Torch makes its only North American stop in San Francisco before the games this summer in Beijing
Alma David, a spokeswoman with the Students for a Free Tibet, said three people scaled one of the towers around 10:30 a.m., carrying a banner that reads, "One World, One Dream, Free Tibet 2008."
The protesters unfurled the banner at 11:20 a.m., facing the bay. Authorities dispatched iron workers onto the tower a short time later to try to cut the banner down.
The California Highway
Authorities have also blocked pedestrian access to the bridge.
E-mail the writers at jcuriel@sfchronicle.com and mlagos@sfchronicle.com .
Olympic Torch Protesters Scale Golden Gate Bridge
POSTED: 10:45 am PDT April 7, 2008
UPDATED: 11:24 am PDT April 7, 2008
SAN FRANCISCO -- Three protesters are climbing up the suspension cables of the Golden Gate Bridge as part of an advance protest to the coming Olympic torch relay.
The protesters are wearing helmets and one of is carrying a suitcase with him. All three of the protesters are tethered together.
One of them has pulled out a Tibetan flag. Authorities are pushing reporters back from the scene
 Jacques Demarthon/AFP/Getty Images |
LivePro-Tibet protesters climb Golden Gate Bridge
Chronicle Staff Report
Monday, April 7, 2008
(04-07) 11:22 PDT SAN FRANCISCO -- Three demonstrators scaled the south tower of the Golden Gate Bridge this morning in a protest aimed at drawing attention to Chinese human rights violations in Tibet
The protest comes two days before the Olympic Torch makes its only North American stop in San Francisco before the games this summer in Beijing
Alma David, a spokeswoman with the Students for a Free Tibet, said three people scaled one of the towers around 10:30 a.m., carrying a banner that reads, "One World, One Dream, Free Tibet 2008."
The protesters unfurled the banner at 11:20 a.m.
David said authorities were climbing the tower in an attempt to force the demonstrators down. The California Highway
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San Franciscans plan Olympic torch protests
The Olympic torch's relay around the world makes its only US stop on Wednesday in San Francisco, where protesters are planning disruptions along the six-mile route to press Beijing on its human rights record in both Tibet and Darfur.
The Paris relay today was cut short amid protests and the torch completed the route on a bus, following attempts by pro-Tibet protesters yesterday in London to seize and extinguish the flame
San Francisco was chosen by Olympics organizers in part because of its large Chinese-American population. But the famously liberal city has caused headaches for Beijing that are poised to increase during the torch's waterfront journey - a route that San Francisco officials initially aimed to keep secret to dissuade activists from demonstrating.
The city relented and released details of the torch's planned path last week, just after its board of supervisors passed a resolution urging citizens to receive the Olympic flame with "alarm and protest at the failure" of China to ensure basic freedoms at home and overseas. Now US human rights groups are expecting more than 1,000 people to line the streets in dissent, including Archbishop Desmond Tutu and actor-turned-Tibet advocate Richard Gere.
Messages condemning China's close ties to the Sudanese government were posted on San Francisco public buses by Darfur campaigners, who hope to pressure China into helping end the mass killings in western Sudan. For those still considering whether to turn out for the torch protest, about 418,000 Friday copies of the San Francisco Chronicle newspaper included a free cardboard sign that read: "China: Extinguish the Flames of Genocide in Darfur."
The Olympic torchbearers chosen by the city, however, are embracing their task. Half of the 80 runners who are slated to carry the flame were winners of an essay contest, and the other half was chosen by Chinese and international officials supervising the games.
The list of torchbearers, according to the Chronicle, includes a 75-year-old Russian Jewish refugee, a gay veteran with Aids and a teenage basketball star whose father was gunned down during one of her games. San Francisco mayor Gavin Newsom said this week that he still considers the city's hosting of the torch an honour.
"I still feel very proud, because this is not China's torch. This is the Olympic torch," Newsom told Newsweek magazine. "We cannot deny people their right to feel differently and communicate that, and I respect - and in many ways admire - the organizations that are protesting."
Comment: Let us not let Olympic protests against the revisionist Chinese regime and its crimes against the people of Tibet distract us from condemning the United States Empire as the main obstacle to
world peace and any hope for a true socialist democracy. ~ Peta
world peace and any hope for a true socialist democracy. ~ Peta
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Come Together and Create!
Peter S. Lopez ~aka:Peta
Sacramento, California, Aztlan
Email: sacranative@yahoo.com
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Humane-Rights-Agenda/
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/NetworkAztlan_News/
http://www.networkaztlan.com/
C/S
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