Rachel King went to San Francisco in hopes of seeing the Olympic Torch. She never saw it, but her blog about everything she did see and hear that day makes an amazing story.

When I arrived at the plaza in front of the Ferry Building, the song Jesse鈥檚 Girl blared from the loud speakers. Bright red China flags dotted the plaza, while thousands milled around, a fair number carrying Tibet flags and Free Tibet signs. A woman shouted words over a megaphone that I couldn鈥檛 understand and the crowd of people immediately surrounding her responded with a chant. She was nearly immediately drowned out by a group of protesters pushing through the crowd chanting about China and genocide in Darfur. It turns out that besides the Free Tibet protesters, there were other factions demonstrating. A small group carried a banner complaining about China鈥檚 alleged harassment of Vietnamese fisherman, a woman held a hand written sign saying Free Burma.

As we waited for the anticipated torch ceremony scheduled for 3:00, a mother tried to keep her three young children occupied and the TV crews focused their cameras on the plaza. David Liu, a design manager at Sun Microsystems, told me that he鈥檇 taken the day off to show his support for China and the Olympics. He came to this country from China 25 years ago at the age of 25. He told me that the woman with the megaphone was chanting, 鈥淏eijing, Beijing, Go! Go! Welcome to China.鈥� The man beside him, Justin Guo, said that the Chinese community had come out to support China鈥檚 involvement in the Olympics after protesters attempted to extinguish the torch in Paris. 鈥淲e came here to protect the torch.鈥� Indeed, the Chinese community was out in full force today.

Then, at about 3:00 there was a moment of anticipation as the torch was scheduled to arrive for the ceremony. Tibet protestors marched in front of a group of Chinese people who booed them. Among the protestors was Suzanne Lerner, a psychologist, who wore red and had painted a giant red heart over her face. She had taken the afternoon off to speak out against the actions of the Chinese government. 鈥淚 respect the Chinese people,鈥� she said, 鈥渂ut I鈥檓 against government brutality.鈥�

But the event that drew Lerner and her fellow protestors, as well as scores of supporters, never materialized. Mayor Gavin Newsom had switched the torch鈥檚 route to go away from the Ferry Building and toward the Golden Gate bridge, in hopes of avoiding the melee that greeted the relay in Paris and London. In the end, San Francisco officials were successful in preventing scuffles and sparing the Chinese Olympics organizers from the shame of having to extinguish the flame, as they did in Paris; in so doing they shielded the torch and its bearers from the protests aimed at China鈥檚 government鈥攂ut also from the throngs who came out to show their support. I can鈥檛 help but think that in the name of conflict avoidance, San Francisco quelled something of the spirit of the Olympics鈥攆iguratively dousing the flame they strived so vigilantly to keep lit.

Via Business Week’s Tech Beat