Countdown to Chaos in San Francisco?

The Olympic torch run is scheduled to take place today, but one has to wonder whether demonstrators will manage to succeed in bringing the torch relay to a screeching halt just as they did in Paris.

Demonstrators are opposing China's ongoing oppression in Tibet, and have repeatedly extinguished the torches used in the Olympic torch relay as it made its way through London and Paris. The torch rolled into San Francisco yesterday and the relay is supposed to take place later today.

On Wednesday afternoon, the flame will be under no such bushel as it makes its only appearance in the United States on an increasingly tense international tour en route to Beijing. It will star in a two-and-a-half-hour relay along this city’s waterfront, involving six miles of pavement, 79 runners and untold scores of law enforcement officials.

The precise route remained in flux on Tuesday as the torch extravaganza threatened to become more civic migraine than celebration in the face of potential protests by those upset with China’s human rights record and recent crackdown in Tibet. Mayor Gavin Newsom met with police and relay officials amid concerns that disruptions in London and Paris this week not be repeated here.

“I can only confirm that the route is dynamic,” said Nathan Ballard, a city spokesman.

The San Francisco Police Department canceled days off for patrol officers and called in state and federal agencies and officers from nearby cities to help patrol the relay route. A no-fly zone was established overhead, the Coast Guard beefed up its fleet and Bay Area police planned on a pair of motorized water scooters patrolling the waterways.

Downtown buildings also stepped up security, and restaurants along the route pulled in — rather than pulled out — patio seating. Sources of anxiety were everywhere: protests atop tourist attractions, famous and not-so-famous Tibet supporters and, of course, the city’s lunatic fringe.

The lunatic fringe? That would be the folks in charge of the city generally, who bend to the whim of the far left who dominate the local political scene.

The situation is definitely making a black eye for the Chinese government, who was hoping to use the Olympics to rubber stamp its appearance on the international stage as a major player in world politics. Instead, it's highlighted the ongoing civil rights nightmare of oppression and repression of people, like the Tibetans.

Beijing organizers have said the monthlong international relay will not be stopped despite the protests, but some International Olympic Committee members have suggested an early end should be considered.

The International Olympic Committee's executive board is scheduled to meet Wednesday, but a spokeswoman declined to say which members plan to discuss.

The board will take up the topic of the torch relay "in general" on Thursday or Friday, IOC spokeswoman Giselle Davies said. But there is no proposal to end the global tour early, she added.

The president of the IOC, Jacques Rogge, is expected to meet with Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao. The meeting was pre-scheduled and will focus on the preparations for the Olympics, the IOC said.

On the torch's visit to France on Monday, protesters forced an abrupt halt to the flame's passage through Paris after just 10 miles of the 17-mile (28 km) route.

On Sunday, at least 36 people in London were arrested along the torch's route, according to London Metropolitan Police.

An Olympic committee member suggested Monday that the public relations nightmare that has followed the Olympic flame on its way to the Summer Games in Beijing may make 2008 the last time such an ambitious global torch relay is attempted.

UPDATE:
Here are photos collected from the various demonstrations against China and the Free Tibet crowd.

UPDATE:
Crowds are already forming along the route. There are multiple layers of security surrounding the torch bearers. We'll see how well that works out for the San Francisco leg as Parisian authorities had said that they had extremely heavy security and yet their leg of the torch relay became an unmitigated disaster.

Police plan to shield the runners with no fewer than three layers of protection - cops on foot jogging at their side, cops on bicycles and cops on motorcycles - all to prevent an embarrassing replay of the attempted torch grabs in Paris and London earlier this week.

Department insiders also say the cops will even have boats stationed along the waterfront route in case things get really out of hand.

"The idea is if there is some kind of mass sit-in that blocks the road, then they can just put the torch on a boat and move around it," said one City Hall source, who asked not to be named because he was not authorized to discuss security plans.

The torch relay is supposed to head from McCovey Cove to Aquatic Park and then back to Justin Herman Plaza. But there is a contingency plan to turn the torch around short of Fisherman's Wharf if it appears that protesters might disrupt the run in the tourist enclave's narrow streets.

UPDATE:
The route has been shortened as pro-Tibet protesters clashed with pro-Chinese protesters outside AT&T Park.