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‘Alarm and protest’ resolution for Olympic torch rekindled
SAN FRANCISCO -
The same day that the Olympic torch was lit in Greece to start its trip around the world, a controversial resolution that would call on The City to welcome the Beijing Olympic torch with “alarm and protest” was rekindled after suffering a defeat last week. Supervisor Chris Daly is expected to reintroduce a resolution that would “urge” The City’s representative who will officially receive the torch “to make publicly known that the 2008 Summer Olympics Games torch is received with alarm and protest” over the “ongoing human rights abuses in China and occupied Tibet.” The resolution is scheduled for a Thursday hearing before the board’s Rules Committee, and is expected to be referred to the full board for a vote April 1. On April 9, the Olympic torch for the 2008 summer games in Beijing makes its only North American stop in San Francisco. If the resolution is adopted, it would not force anyone to do anything, but serve a city policy. Also if approved, Mayor Gavin Newsom would then have 10 days to sign it, veto it or return it unsigned. Last week, the resolution was heard at the board’s City Operations committee. Committee chair Supervisor Carmen Chu, with the support of Supervisor Sean Elsbernd, rejected Daly’s version and sent a different version to the full board, also for an April 1 vote, neither makes a direct reference to China’s human rights record nor urges the receiving of the torch in protest. Newsom has spoken against the resolution and said Thursday that Daly and others “want to make this today’s controversy.” |
