Online seats for San Francisco Olympic relay
p2pnet news | Freedom:- China’s ongoing attacks on the people of Tibet continued to garner hitherto unprecedented international media coverage with all eyes currently focused on San Francisco for today’s Olympic torch relay.
The London and Paris legs were disasters for the Communist regime and it looks as though San Francisco will be just as bad, if not worse.
Behind many of the protests are members of Students for a Free Tibet who are delivering front row, online seats for the San Francisco event while Chinese spokeswoman Jiang Yu calls the demonstrations “pitiable and insignificant”.
However, the International Olympics Committee will on Friday decide whether or not to continue the torch relay, says Times Online.
While the IOC ponders, the world is watching and, “We’ve been trying to bring you the best coverage we can as events unfold,” says the SFT blog.
And today, they plan to take it one step further with live-casts.
“Just go to http://blog.studentsforafreetibet.org/livesf and you will feel like you are right there in the streets,” say Students for a Free Tibet.
70% of likely voters
“Pro-Tibet organizations say they have told activists to demonstrate peacefully and not disrupt Wednesday’s torch journey,” said Voice of America yesterday.
“The Olympic torch arrived in San Francisco early Tuesday morning and is being kept in a secret location until the start of today’s almost 10 kilometer relay journey.
“David Perry, a spokesman for the torch relay committee in San Francisco, said Tuesday that one runner had dropped out.”
A survey of US public found that 70% of likely voters who responded believe it was wrong for Olympic officials to let China hosts this year’s games, says VoA, adding:
“At the torch’s next stop in Argentina, activists in Buenos Aires said they are planning to protest during Friday’s relay.”
Public relations fiasco
Meanwhile, as the Olympic relay continues to spotlight China’s repression of Tibet, “Selected foreign media have been invited on another show tour, this time into the regions of eastern Tibet (parts of Gansu, Qinghai, Sichuan, Yunnan provinces) where the majority of the ongoing protests by monks, nuns and laypeople have continued – and where shooting into crowds of non-violent demonstrators has also continued until as recently as last weekend,” says Adam’s Gecko, going on:
“This tour comes less than two weeks after the public relations fiasco of a journalists’ tour of Lhasa, during which Jokhang monks held an unapproved press briefing.
“And it’s happened again today. Buddhist monks at the large Labrang monastery interrupted the CCP-controlled media tour today.
“The monks, whose numbers grew to about two dozen during the 10-minute incident, began shouting slogans in Tibetan in an outer courtyard as journalists entered a prayer hall at the Labrang monastery in western Gansu province bordering Tibet.
Stay tuned.
were disasters – Olympic torch run may be cancelled, April 8, 2008
Times Online – IOC may scrap Olympic torch relay over protests, April 8, 2008
Voice of America – San Francisco Braces for Protests During Olympic Torch Relay, April 9, 2008
Adam’s Gecko – Labrang Monks interrupt another CCP show, April 9, 2008
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April 9th, 2008 at 2:28 pm
On the one hand, I agree that China doesn’t deserve to host the Olympics. On the other, if they weren’t hosting them, there wouldn’t have been this opportunity to draw worldwide attention to the protests. China really has egg on its face after having the “honor” of having the most controversial Olympic torch run in history.
April 9th, 2008 at 3:01 pm
I feel sorry for the kids that have been training for the past four years. It is a shame that the tradition of the relay tourch runs around the world are being disrupted. But China are hypochrites having the Olympic games and pretending to show world wide unity when there is unrest in their own country.