A Tibetan "independence torch" unveiled has arrived in New Delhi from Dharamsala on its first leg of a journey around the world before the Olympics in Beijing. The torch was received by a gathering of 200 Tibetan refugees outside the Jantar Mantar monument in central Delhi. (DPA, April 4)

Meanwhile, a "Human Rights Torch Relay," kicked off with a rally in San Francisco's Union Square April 5. (AP, April 5) On April 2, San Francisco's Board of Supervisors passed 8-3 a controversial resolution sponsored by Chris Daly stating that the city receives the Olympic torch with "alarm and protest at the failure of China to meet its past solemn promises to the international community, including the citizens of San Francisco, to cease the egregious and ongoing human rights abuses in China and occupied Tibet." It has yet to be signed by Mayor Gavin Newsom (San Mateo Daily Journal, April 2)

Since you love quoting Avnery, I thought you'd enjoy this pearl of wisdom from the old bat:

I support the Tibetans in spite of it being obvious that the Americans are exploiting the struggle for their own purposes. Clearly, the CIA has planned and organized the riots, and the American media are leading the world-wide campaign.

From the Sports Network, April 7:

PARIS - The 2008 Olympic torch relay was again met with protests in France, one day after demonstrators clashed with police while the flame made its way through London.

This summer's Olympic Games are being held in Beijing, China. The communist nation's human rights record has been called into question, particularly with recent unrest in Tibet.

Since the flame was lit in Greece on March 24, protests have continually followed its international route.

Sunday's journey through London featured at least 25 arrests, as protestors tried to extinguish the flame.

On Monday, the flame had to be put out by officials after numerous attempts to disrupt its planned run through Paris. The torch was placed on a bus, several times, to protect it from protestors before the final scheduled leg was cancelled.

While the torch, itself, was extinguished, the Olympic flame still burns in a lantern, which is used on long journeys, such as plane flights.

The torch will be in the United States on Wednesday in San Francisco, where more protests are expected.

From the London Times, April 8:

The Beijing torch was extinguished three times in Paris as thousands of human rights protesters turned the relay into a rout, forcing it to end its shortened journey on a bus.

The debacle followed serious clashes between police and pro-Tibet demonstrators during the 31-mile London leg on Sunday that left organisers determined to learn the lessons of a logistical and public relations disaster.

From the San Francisco Chronicle, April 8:

Pro-Tibet protesters climb Golden Gate Bridge cables
Three demonstrators scaled cables near the south tower of the Golden Gate Bridge today and unfurled banners intended to draw attention to Chinese human rights violations in Tibet.

The protest by Students for a Free Tibet came the day before the Olympic Torch is to arrive in San Francisco for its only North American stop before this summer's games in Beijing.

The protesters, two men and a woman, scaled the cables around 10:30 a.m., and unfurled two banners around 11:20 a.m. One banner read, "One World, One Dream, Free Tibet 08," a play on the official slogan of this year's Olympic Games, "One World, One Dream." The other read simply, "Free Tibet."

The protesters also hung two Tibetan flags.

The activists used climbing gear to reach a spot 150 feet over the roadway and 370 feet above the water. They rappelled down about 1 p.m. and were arrested by California Highway Patrol officers. Iron workers will remove the banners and flags, authorities said.

California Highway Patrol spokeswoman Mary Ziegenbein said police arrested another four activists who did not scale the cables.

Bridge manager Kary Witt said cameras are trained on the span, but that authorities at first hadn't realized that protesters were about to climb the cables because they wore "ordinary" clothing and pushed a baby stroller. Their "Team Tibet" T-shirts were covered, and their banners and climbing gear were disguised by the stroller, he said.

Witt said the group came down after he went out with a bullhorn and pleaded with them. He told the activists that they were posing a danger to themselves and bridge employees.

It took the group an hour to get down, Witt said, partly because the female protester got caught in one of the banners and needed help getting untangled.

Arrested were Mac Sutherlin, 30, of Sausalito; Hannah Strange, 29, of Oakland; Duane Martinez, 27, of Sausalito; Alexandra Taub, 22, of Vancouver; Thomas Parkin, 38, of San Francisco; Tashi Sharzur, 47, of San Mateo; and Leslie Kaup, 31, of St. Paul, Minn. All were booked on suspicion of felony conspiracy and misdemeanor causing a public nuisance, the CHP said.

Sutherlin, Strange and Martinez, the three who climbed the cables, were also booked on suspicion of misdemeanor trespassing, the CHP said.

Yangchen Lhamo, a Tibetan American who lives in San Francisco, said Students for a Free Tibet hopes to persuade the International Olympic Committee to keep the torch out of Tibet this summer. It is scheduled to pass through Tibet on June 19-21.

Lhamo said the group planned other protests Tuesday and Wednesday that she said would be peaceful. On Tuesday, there will be an alternative torch event, the celebration of the Tibetan Freedom Torch, beginning at 11 a.m. at United Nations Plaza in San Francisco.

A number of visitors who were prevented from crossing the bridge for several hours appeared to take the protest in stride. Cincinnati resident Jim Hayden, 62, who is visiting San Francisco for the first time, said he was well aware of the city's reputation for political activity.

"If they're going to do it, do it here," Hayden said. "These people have their point of view, and find very strange ways to express them."

From AP, April 11:

BUENOS AIRES — Argentine runners relayed the Olympic torch past fenced-off protesters on Friday, as hundreds of China supporters in red windbreakers tried to reverse weeks of bad publicity for the host of the Summer Games....

Mayor Mauricio Macri held the slender aluminum torch aloft, then passed it to three-time Olympic windsurfing medalist Carlos Espinola, who jogged into Buenos Aires streets flanked by Chinese bodyguards. Heavyset police from Argentina's navy huffed to keep up.

A sea of about 500 China supporters in red windbreakers handed out by organizers waved banners and denounced what they called political interference in the ceremony.

So who exactly was giving out those red windbreakers?

From AP, April 10:

NEW DELHI — Thousands of Tibetan demonstrators carried 152 shrouded effigies, representing the compatriots they believed were killed in a crackdown on anti-China protests in the Himalayan region, in a rally Thursday in the Indian capital.

Carrying placards saying "Stop Cultural Genocide in Tibet" and "China has turned Tibet into a Killing Field," Thursday's protesters urged China to release imprisoned Tibetans and remove its heavy military presence from the region.

Roughly 200 protesters marched to New Delhi from Dharmsala, the seat of Tibet's government-in-exile and home to the Dalai Lama, the Tibetan spiritual leader. The rest of the demonstrators arrived from neighboring states.

The crowd carried 152 stuffed effigies draped in white shrouds, representing the 152 victims they believe were killed in the protests and the ensuing crackdown in the Tibetan capital, Lhasa, last month. Chinese authorities say 22 people died in the riots that broke out March 14.