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Courtesy: Don Farber




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Last Update: 1/25/08

OLYMPIC TORCH PROTEST, SAN FRANCISCO - APRIL 2008

Photos courtesy of The Tibet Connection Radio Show

In April 2008, San Francisco played host to the only North American appearance of the Olympic Torch.  On the day before this event, The Tibet Connection accompanied four vans stuffed full of Tibetans and Tibetan supporters to San Francisco to photograph, record, interview and participate in the protests for two days. 

8 APRIL 2008
8 April 2008 - to try and get up to UN Plaza in San Francisco in time for the various rallies on the first day, we left absurdly early in the morning.
UN Plaza, 8 April Rally.
Rally in front of City Hall.
5 year old Tibetan activist.
On the way to the Chinese Consulate.
Namgyal Kyulo addresses the crowd in front of the Chinese Consulate.
Singing Tibetan songs.
Marching back to UN Plaza.
The juxtaposition of signs creates an interesting demand for the truth.
UN Plaza.
UN Plaza, with City Hall in the background.
Tenzin Chodon, the North American representative of the Tibetan government-in-exile, discusses the day's upcoming events on the march back to UN Plaza.
San Francisco Supervisor Chris Daly, wearing a Free Tibet button, addresses thousands of supporters.  On his blog, Chris Daly wrote about the protests in Lhasa:

On the same day 300 brave monks set out from Drepung monastery outside of Lhasa on a protest march to Potala Palace in the heart of the city. The arrest of dozens of these monks led to further protests and uprising on the streets of Lhasa and other cities across Tibet. The Chinese government met these protests with a brutal crackdown, killing over 100 Tibetans and arresting hundreds of others in door-to-door raids.

This wicked turn of events in Tibet catapulted what would otherwise be a highly symbolic resolution into the national and international spotlight — drawing significant attention to San Francisco as we called out China’s abysmal human rights record – a laundry list of dirty abuses that extend from cultural genocide in Tibet to persecution of Falun Gong practitioners, from suppressing labor and environmental activists to stifling freedom of speech and press, and from militarily aiding genocide in Darfur to propping up a brutal dictatorship in Burma.
Archbishop Desmond Tutu addresses the thousands of Tibet supporters in United Nations Plaza.

An animated Tutu told the crowd that South Africa stands as an example of a people who, with the help of worldwide demonstrations, boycotts and vigils, overcame their oppression.

"We have come to say this is a moral universe ... that right and goodness and compassion and freedom are going to remain," Tutu said to the cheering crowd.

"We want to say to China, 'We thought that the Olympic Games would help you improve your human rights record,' " Tutu said. "We still hope ... but what we are saying to the heads of state, to President George Bush, is, 'For goodness sake, don't go to the Beijing Games ... for the sake of our children, for the beautiful people of Tibet. Don't go! Don't go! ' " as he exited the stage while the throng continued chanting "Don't go!".
Actor Richard Gere, a long-time supporter of Tibet and a follower of the Dalai Lama, said this is an "epic" moment in the history of Tibet-China relations. He called China's veneer of a harmonious society a fraud, and urged an open discussion between the two.

"There is no harmony, no genuine harmony, without truth," Gere said. "Without freedom of religion, freedom of movement, freedom of culture."

He then read from a letter the Dalai Lama had addressed to Tibetans a couple of days earlier, which implored that Tibetans "should not engage in any action that could remotely be interpreted as violent. ... We will achieve success through our nonviolent path."
Candlelight Vigil, 8 April 2008.

The Olympic Torch Relay was the next day.

The following photos are courtesy of The Tibet Connection.  Part Two, the Olympic Torch Relay on 9 April 2008, is here.

Peaceful Protest Against Crackdown in Tibet - Epoch Times Article covering Global Day of Action protest

Senior Producer Christal Smith of The Tibet Connection also came with us on the van.  Read her essay about the protests here.

See Marc Smith's fascinating multi-media slide show of the San Francisco protests.

Avaaz - Petition to end the violence in Tibet
Los Angeles Friends of Tibet - P.O. Box 641066-Los Angeles, CA 90064 | email: friends@latibet.org
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