San Francisco torch route switch angers spectators

By Jim Christie and Amanda Beck

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - The Olympic torch's only stop in North America turned into the mystery of the missing flame on Wednesday, as San Francisco abruptly changed the torch route, angering both China supporters and protesters who had waited hours to see it.

Thousands of people converged along the announced scenic waterfront route for the passage of the torch. But shortly after a brief opening ceremony, the first runner, flanked by tall, blue-clad Chinese security officials, disappeared into a large waterfront warehouse.

"I think we were cheated, because I think the meaning of the relay was to show the whole world that our country is hosting the Olympics," said Michael Huo, 30, a Chinese engineer working at a Silicon Valley start-up company.

The torch was a magnet for chaotic demonstrations in London and Paris in the last week over a range of China issues from China's crackdown on Tibet last month to human rights. Beijing, embarrassed as it prepares to host the Olympics, has strongly condemned the protests.

San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom told Reuters that the route had to be radically changed at the last minute or the event canceled to ensure public safety.

"We assessed the situation and felt that we could not secure the torch and protect the protesters and supporters to the degree that we wished," Newsom said by cell phone. "As a consequence we engaged in subsequent contingency planning that we felt would keep people safe."

The bewildering changes united supporters and protesters divided by politics by angering both sides over the sudden change during the only relay leg in North America on its journey to the Beijing Olympic Games in August.

"I think it's cowardly. If they can't run the torch through the city, it means that no one is supporting the games," said Matt Helmenstine, 30, a California high school teacher who carried a Tibetan flag.

After the torch disappeared from view after the opening ceremony, police boats and jet skis hinted it might be headed up the waterfront by boat. But an hour after the scheduled start, the torch appeared on a major, less scenic north-south street more than two miles away.

"Where it will end up, nobody knows," said all-news radio station KCBS.

A planned closing ceremony on the waterfront was also scrapped.

TENSIONS IN THE CITY

San Francisco has a large Chinese-American population and many had waited proudly to see the torch relay. But before the start of the torch run tensions mounted amid confrontations with anti-China protesters.

At least one pro-Tibetan demonstrator was detained.

In front of the city's ferry building, Christine Lias, 30, was quickly surrounded by more than 30 Chinese-Americans after she yelled: "Free Tibet now!"