Planned closing torch ceremony at San Francisco Bay waterfront canceled

SAN FRANCISCO — Officials say the planned closing ceremony for the Olympic torch at the San Francisco Bay waterfront is canceled and another one will take place at an undisclosed location.

The ceremony had been slated to take place Wednesday at Justin Herman Plaza, where thousands had gathered to support and protest the Beijing-bound flame's visit to the city.

Just before the relay began, the torch was rerouted about a mile away from the demonstrators and spectators. Officials say they changed the path because of security concerns.

San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom tells The Associated Press that a closing ceremony will still take place, but he would not specify where.

The Olympic torch was rerouted away from thousands of demonstrators and spectators who crowded the city's waterfront Wednesday to witness the flame's symbolic journey to the Beijing Games.

The first torchbearer took the flame from a lantern brought to the stage and held it aloft before running into a warehouse. A motorcycle escort departed, but the torchbearer was nowhere in sight.

Then officials drove the Olympic torch about a mile inland and handed it off to two runners away from protesters and media.

Less than an hour before the relay began, officials cut the original six-mile route nearly in half. The flame's only North American stop has drawn thousands of demonstrators gathered to praise and condemn China during the flame's journey to Beijing.

Chi Zhang, a software engineer from Sunnyvale, waited to see the torch since 10 a.m. He shook his head sadly four hours later when he heard the route had been changed.

"That's surprising," he said. "We were very excited about this. This was supposed to be the only stop in the United States. I took a day off work to be here."

Sam Chagzoetsang, 22, of Salt Lake City, said he hadn't yet seen the torch because of the re-route.

Chagzoetsang told the Deseret Morning News via cell phone that he was among protestors trying to align themselves with the final leg of the new torch-run route and closing ceremony.

"We are winning," he says. "They can't run it across the route they're supposed to."

And, for Chagzoetsang, whose parents fled Tibet decades ago, that's a minor victory compared to his hope that the protest will impact China's policies.