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Three people protesting China's human rights record and the impending arrival of the Olympic torch climb up the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco, Monday, April 7, 2008, and tied the Tibetan flag and two banners to its cables. (AP Photo/Paul Sakuma)
Tibet activists hang up banners on the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco, California, April 7, 2008. Three pro-Tibet activists scaled the cables of San Francisco's famed Golden Gate Bridge and hung banners to protest the arrival of the Olympic torch in the city on Wednesday. (Kimberly White/Reuters)
A police officer scuffles with a protester during the Olympic torch relay in London April 6, 2008.
(Yui Mok/Pool/Reuters)
Policemen arrest a pro-Tibet demonstrator along the way of the Olympic torch relay in Paris April 7, 2008. (Partrick Kovarik/Pool/Reuters)

Olympic Torch Relay Upstaged as Protests Over China Span Globe

By Demian McLean

April 7 (Bloomberg) -- Demonstrators from San Francisco to Paris sought to upstage the Olympic torch relay today with protests over China's human rights record and crackdown in Tibet.

In the French capital, protesters slowed relay runners to a crawl, forcing police to carry the torch and deliver it to its destination by bus.

On the other side of the globe, demonstrators in California scaled San Francisco's landmark Golden Gate Bridge and unfurled banners saying ``Free Tibet '08.'' The torch is set to arrive in the city later this week. About 20 percent of San Francisco's 744,000 people are of Chinese heritage; the torch relay does not go through Chinatown.

The debate even entered U.S. presidential politics, with Democratic hopeful U.S. Senator Hillary Clinton calling on President George W. Bush to boycott the Olympics opening ceremony.

``The Bush administration has been wrong to downplay human rights in its policy towards China,'' Clinton said in a statement released by her campaign. ``President Bush should not plan on attending the opening ceremonies in Beijing, absent major changes by the Chinese government.''

The procession of the Olympic torch to Beijing has been disrupted by protests since it began in Greece on March 24.

China faces increasing scrutiny of its human rights record in the run-up to the games, which open Aug. 8.

Groups such as Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and Reporters Without Borders are pressing the government on a spectrum of issues, including arms sales to Sudan, detention without trial and media freedom.

Tibet Unrest

The Foreign Ministry in Beijing has accused Amnesty of being biased in its assessment.

Tibet, annexed by China in 1951, has experienced its biggest protests since pro-independence demonstrations two decades ago.

China says supporters of Tibet's exiled Dalai Lama are trying to undermine the Olympics and says rioters killed about 20 civilians as demonstrations last month spread from the Tibetan capital, Lhasa, to the western provinces of Sichuan, Gansu, Qinghai and Yunnan.

The U.S. State Department said in a report last month that China continues to deny its citizens fundamental freedoms.

In its global human rights survey for 2007, it dropped China from the list of worst offenders while criticizing the government for increasing censorship of the Internet and tightening restrictions on freedom of speech and the media.

The Bush administration has repeatedly said it has no plans to boycott the August ceremonies. The president has accepted an invitation by the Chinese to attend ceremonies related to the Olympics.

The Chinese Embassy in Washington didn't immediately return a call requesting a comment.

To contact the reporter on this story: Demian McLean in Washington at
dmclean8@bloomberg.net.