well this thread will be huge is the past few days are any indication. huge day in SF today.
Organisers of the Canberra leg of the troubled Olympic torch relay are anxious to avoid a repeat of the drama in San Francisco where the route was changed at the last minute.
Thousands of pro-Tibet demonstrators as well as China supporters were left bewildered when the flame disappeared from view midway through the first stage of the San Francisco leg on Wednesday.
It re-appeared an hour later more than 3km away from the planned route, surrounded by a squad of SWAT police.
Canberra relay taskforce chairman Ted Quinlan said it appeared the San Francisco organisers had reacted to the threat there of a major protest over China’s crackdown on Tibet last month.
“It’s obviously a little confused over there and I’ll be certainly waiting to get a full report on exactly what happened and what they did,” he told ABC Radio.
"But it seems they’ve taken some evasion tactics.
"It’s been reported that the relay has been cut short and it’s been reported that the route has changed.
“I have to say at the same time that it’s the first time there’s been reporting of genuine support coming out for the torch relay.”
San Francisco has a large Chinese-American population and many reportedly had waited in proud anticipation of the torch relay, which the Olympic organisers have called a “Journey of Harmony”.
At least one pro-Tibetan demonstrator was detained even before the start of the San Francisco leg, which began later than the scheduled 1pm (0600 AEST) start.
Mr Quinlan said it was disappointing that the route had been changed and that it was deemed necessary for the runners and the flame to be flanked by heavily-armed police.
“But at this time, I don’t know exactly what the situation was in San Francisco and what their intelligence was at the time,” Mr Quinlan said.
“We’ll just have to wait until we gather that intelligence and understand what they did in terms of trying to avoid whatever they were trying to avoid which was apparently a major protest in a given place.”
Mr Quinlan said he hoped the scenes in San Francisco would not be repeated when the torch arrives in the Australian capital on April 24.
“This disruption causes massive disappointment as well as potentially getting some point across to China.”
Meanwhile, Sports Minister Kate Ellis says the focus during the Australian leg of the Olympic torch relay should be on the athletes not the protesters.
Pro-Tibet protesters plan to turn their backs on the Olympic torch when it passes through Canberra on April 24.
Ms Ellis says people have the right to protest but the focus should be on the Australian athletes.
“It would be great to have some focus on the athletes, on these amazing Olympians who have been training for years … Let’s focus on them and use this as an opportunity to show some of our support,” Ms Ellis told the Ten Network.
“We should focus on the athletes but I don’t think we should go out there and tell people they can’t voice their opinions.”
The Beijing Olympics was a good opportunity to shine a spotlight on China, she said.
"It really shines a spotlight on them … When was the last time you saw such a debate about human rights?
"When was the last time that we really studied China in this instance to this degree?
“I think that that’s a positive thing, having debates … and shining a microscope on what’s going on.”
