There's not much of a summary to make. There were THOUSANDS of people there. I can't even imagine what the number would be, but just where I was at, in front of PacBell Park, there had to be a thousand people. I was a bit intimidated at first because there were A LOT of the Communist Chinese flags there, but that moment of apprehension soon turned into motivation. That probably wasn't the best thing, because admittedly, I arrived looking for a fight (not an actual fight, but some super intense debate/dialogue).
There were A LOT of people out to support Tibet, but there was also a very organized contingent out to oppose China's support for Sudan, since Sudan is committing genocide in Darfur. Besides that, VietWill, the group that I met up with there, was out to protest China's military aggression in the South Seas.
By the time that Cong and I got there, it was already intense. The Olympics' supporters were singing China's national anthem and playing traditional Chinese music on boomboxes, which was an obvious sign that people were starting to mistake the protests as being anti-Chinese, versus anti-Chinese government and its oppressive policies. By the time Thao got there, who actually dropped everything she was supposed to be doing that day to be there (Thao's a rockstar!), Tibet's supporters were facing off with the Olympics' supporters in yelling contests. I even got into a few of those myself.
I joined the Tibet supporters a few times when they started their march, though I never went too far because I didn't want to leave Cong and Thao behind. I got some really good shots in though. And one guy had a sign that said "Beijing 2008 equals Gemany 1936." Right on.
The Olympics' supporters even tried to roll up on us. We had supporters though, people who we talked to while we there came out to back us up.
Anyway, at that point, we learned that the torch route had been changed. Nobody knew where it was actually going, so we headed towards Justin Herman plaza, where two humungoid torches had been set up for the closing ceremony. There were even MORE people over there, so we carved out a spot in front of the Beijing mascots. I didn't get any pictures, because they left pretty quickly. I do remember one girl, who wore a "Free Tibet" t-shirt who thought that the mascots were cute, so she took a picture with them.
We set up shop, continued our protest, and handed out brochures and t-shirts. It got pretty crazy, but it was definitely awesome.
This is my favorite shot. The only problem with it are the Communist flags right behind me, since they stand out the most. It was impossible NOT to get a Communist flag in there though.
The day continued with its craziness. The marches and chants continued. A lot of the Students for a Free Tibet kids came by and were very supportive.
Eventually, we found out that Mayor Gavin Newsome pulled a bait and switch on everyone. As much as I am a fan of Newsome, that decision sucked. I think everybody there, for whatever reason they were there, wanted to see the torch pass and have the opportunity to get their message across. They completely changed the route, and the torch ended up way on the other side of the city. While nobody on the Embarcadero saw it, people by San Francisco State got a nice surprise that day.
However, the fact that the Mayor felt the need to hide the torch away meant that we got the job done. So at the end of the day, I'm happy.
People were still out and about to protest of course. Fox News was there, so there had to be drama. Even Ailien, who was leading the VietWill group, got in some of the action.
The police rolled in deep to keep everyone under control. Yay for cops. (yeah right)
The coolest part of the end of the day was that I saw Majora Carter! She was selected to be one of the torch bearers, and she planned to hold the Tibetan flag while she was running the torch, but the moment those Chinese security guys who were wearing blue saw it, they ripped the Tibetan flag out of her hand, snatched the torch from her, and shoved her out. Major kudos to Majora Carter.
Anyway, after such a wild day, I ended up at San Francisco State to hang out and enjoy some pho. Good Day.
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