Daytime protest

Protesters gathered Tuesday morning at the United Nations Plaza to decry the treatment of Tibetans by China and to condemn the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

The peaceful protest comes as the Olympic torch arrived this morning at the San Francisco International Airport. San Francisco is the only stop in North America to receive the torch.

"The city of San Francisco receives the torch with alarm and protest," said Aaron Peskin, president of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors.

Peskin was joined by Supervisor Chris Daly and other Tibetan leaders to denounce the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

"The eyes of the world are watching us. We beseech the People's Republic of China to restore human rights in Tibet and China," Peskin said.

The nephew of the Dali Lama, Jigyme Norbu, spoke today saying how officials are scared because of possible route changes. "China is afraid of the flags and faces," said Norbu.

Many protesters carried Tibetan flags as they marched down to the San Francisco Chinese Consulate. "Shame on China!" protesters yelled outside the consulate.

An airplane flew above the consulate with a banner that read, "Stop the cultural genocide in Tibet."

"China covers up everything. Monks in Tibet are not happy and those who are not happy probably are killed," said Dhondue Seringe, 16, who came all the way from Salt Lake City, Utah to join the march,

"Hopefully this will send a strong message to China."

Candlelight vigil at United Nations Plaza

Hundreds gathered at United Nations Plaza against the biting cold to unite in a candlelight vigil for human rights on the eve of the torch relay through San Francisco.

After protesting the Chinese government's control over Tibet and urging for their freedom earlier in the day rally, the evening event provided supporters with voices of hope and peace.

"This is a moral universe. Right and goodness and compassion and freedom are going to remain," Archbishop Desmond Tutu of South Africa said to the cheering crowd. "Thanks for standing for freedom."

Richard Blum, chairman and founder of the American Himalayan Foundation, said San Francisco hosted the Dalai Lama's first visit to the United States in 1979 when his wife, Senator Dianne Feinstein, was the city's mayor. Even after several years' worth of efforts, he said the Chinese government has refused to meet with the Dalai Lama since 1957.

"When you ask the Chinese directly why they won't sit down with His Holiness, they don't have a good answer," Blum said.

Actor Richard Gere, a human rights activist and an avid supporter of the Dalai Lama, shared a dream he had where the Chinese leaders realized what they had done to Tibet and called upon His Holiness to restore peace to the country.

What the Chinese call "a 'harmonious society' is a fraud," Gere said before reading a letter from the Dalai Lama that urged for peaceful protest and preservation of values.

Gere is the founder of the Gere Foundation, an organization whose mission is "to alleviate suffering" and to support the people of Tibet through grants, according to its Web site.

Representing the USA athletes were former Olympic crewmembers Ed Ferry (Tokyo, 1964) and Charles Altekruse (USSR, 1980 and Seoul, 1988). The pair lit the Tibetan torch and proceeded to walk through the crowd, lighting individual candles and urging for the politics surrounding the games to cease this summer.

"Thousands of protesters have been imprisoned and 160 Tibetans have been killed in the current [Chinese] uprising," said Giovanni Vassallo, president of Committee of 100 for Tibet. "Beijing is using the Olympics to deflect attention from [their] brutality."

Sue Logan, ad administrator at UC Berkeley, said local Tibetan groups have been marching up and down Shattuck Avenue every night for the past two weeks, carrying candles and singing.

"I hope [these events] draw attention to the injustice in Tibet," said Logan, who attended the event with her son in support of her Tibetan co-worker.

As for tomorrow, police are bracing themselves for bigger crowds and more protests against the torch rally. Given the reaction protesters have had in other torch bearing cities around the world, even Supervisor Chris Daly expects something to happen.

"To not take the streets when the torch leaves McCovey Cove would be very un-San Franciscan," Daly said.