Torch Changes Keep Protesters Off Balance

Throngs of pro- and anti-China demonstrators in San Francisco forced drastic changes in the Olympic torch's tour of the city, the San Francisco Chronicle reports. Officials bused the flame and relay runners from the bayside opening ceremony miles across town; after heading west toward the Golden Gate Bridge, the convoy turned south and headed for the airport.

The new route remained mainly protest-free most of the way—to the chagrin of the president of the city's board of supervisors, who said Mayor Gavin Newsom "runs San Francisco the way the premier of China runs his country—secrecy, lies, misinformation, lack of transparency and manipulating the populace." The flame was set to depart for its next stop, Buenos Aires. (More San Francisco stories.)