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SAN FRANCISCO : The Olympic flame arrived here on Tuesday under heavy security as games officials dismissed suggestions that the global relay could be abandoned amid protests over China's human rights record.
The symbolic flame arrived at San Francisco International Airport around 4:00 am (1100 GMT) for its only stop in the United States, a day after angry protests forced officials to snuff out the Olympic torch five times in Paris.
Police guarded every entrance to the airport's international terminal and officers in riot gear patrolled outside the building, before the flame was whisked to a secret location ahead of Wednesday's torch relay.
Several rights groups were planning to demonstrate in San Francisco, and the city got an early taste of the protests Monday when three activists scaled the Golden Gate Bridge and unfurled huge pro-Tibet banners.
Pro-Tibet activists were holding several events in San Francisco on Tuesday which will culminate in a rally and candlelight vigil attended by Tibetan leaders, actor Richard Gere and archbishop Desmond Tutu at 6:00 pm (0100 GMT).
Around 800 protesters carrying Tibetan flags attended a rally at the city's United Nations Plaza on Tuesday before marching to the Chinese consulate, flanked by police officers.
Protesters chanted "Shame on China" and "Free Tibet Now" as they demonstrated outside the consulate buildings.
San Francisco organisers have already trimmed the route of the torch relay to six miles, and mayor Gavin Newsom said on Monday further changes could be made even after the event gets underway.
Meanwhile in Beijing on Tuesday, Olympic chief Jacques Rogge raised the prospect of a possible abandonment of the relay's ensuing legs after confirming that the flame's odyssey would be reviewed at a meeting this week.
But he later moved to dampen speculation of the relay being stopped.
"It's a false rumour," Rogge told France 3 television. "There is no discussion underway on the matter and we do not envisage such a scenario.
"We will of course analyse the route of the torch since the beginning, from Olympia to Paris although the next stage is San Francisco. That's what we are doing and we will make regular evaluations."
However, Rogge emphasised: "We are not in the dynamic of stopping."
Pro-Tibet campaigners have shadowed the flame from the moment it was lit in Greece on March 24, as demonstrators accuse China of violating human rights and protest a crackdown in Tibet that they say has left 150 people dead. China says "rioters" killed 20 people.
International leaders have also come under pressure to boycott the opening ceremony of the Olympics in Beijing on August 8.
US President George W. Bush was challenged on Monday by Democratic senator and presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton to skip the ceremony, although the US leader has consistently said he plans to attend, arguing that the Olympics is about sport not politics.
However the White House on Tuesday did not rule out the possibility of Bush missing the event, with White House spokeswoman Dana Perino saying: "We haven't provided any schedule on the president's trip."
On Monday, the torch relay was dramatically cut short in Paris due to protests by hundreds of campaigners.
Protesters also disrupted the previous day's leg in London, while activists have promised more of the same in San Francisco on Wednesday and later on in Australia, India, Thailand and Japan.
Rights groups planning protests in San Francisco on Wednesday stressed they were planning "peaceful, non-violent" demonstrations.
The Save Darfur Coalition, which is lobbying China to exert more pressure on Sudan's leaders to end violence in the country, categorically ruled out any attempt to disrupt the San Francisco relay.
"I can tell you absolutely unequivocally that we have no plans to interrupt or disrupt the torch relay," coalition spokesman Allyn Brooks LaSure told AFP.
Chinese officials have reacted strongly to the idea of stifling their effort to stage the most ambitious Olympic torch relay ever, visiting 19 countries plus China over a 137,000-kilometre journey.
"The disruption and sabotage of the torch relay is a challenge to the spirit of the Olympic charter, the world laws, and peace-loving people around the world," Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu said.
After San Francisco the torch heads to Buenos Aires and several other countries before arriving in China in early May. - AFP/de
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