April 7, 2008—Three people protesting China's human rights record and the impending arrival of the Olympic torch climb San Francisco's Golden Gate Bridge today, tying the Tibetan flag and two banners to its cables.

"One World One Dream. Free Tibet" and "Free Tibet," the banners read.

The high-altitude activists wore helmets and harnesses as they made their way up suspension cables. The climb had the group suspended several dozen feet above traffic.

During the climb Mary Ziegenbien of the California Highway Patrol said, "We don't want to put their lives in danger by going and grabbing them off the suspension cables right now."

The Olympic torch is scheduled to pass through the California city on Wednesday—the flame's only North American stop.

The torch's path around the globe already has been marked by protests against China's policies toward Tibet and Sudan. In Paris on Monday, organizers canceled the final leg of the Olympic run after chaotic protests, snuffing out the torch and putting it aboard a bus.

About 80 torchbearers are expected carry the flame on a six-mile (ten kilometer) route along the San Francisco Bay—a route that conspicuously avoids the city's famed Chinatown.

—Juliana Barbassa in San Francisco/AP

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