By KATRIN BENNHOLD and ELISABETH ROSENTHAL

PARIS - The journey of the Olympic torch, an event that was supposed to burnish China’s image around the world, has turned into a public relations nightmare not only for China, but also for the nations along the torch’s route.
China has spent eight years and tens of billions of dollars preparing to host the Summer Olympic Games, which Beijing has envisioned as a kind of coming-of-age party to showcase its rapid growth.
But instead the Summer Games and the torch’s journey have served as rallying points for a variety of opponents of the Chinese government, most notably those supporting autonomy or freedom for Tibet.
The torch ceremonies have focused attention on causes that have not been in the spotlight for decades. At the International Campaign for Tibet, telephones have rung continually with calls from news media outlets, politicians and people wanting to sign petitions , said Jan Willem den Besten, the Dutch campaign coordinator.
“What is most dramatic is to see how broad and deep the support has become,” Mr. den Besten said. “You almost have to feel sorry for the Chinese because it’s turned completely against the public image they wanted to present.”
The outbreak of violent unrest in Tibet and an ongoing crackdown there by Chinese security forces has emboldened China’s critics .
A small but growing number of leading political figures in Europe and the United States have called for a boycott of the opening ceremony of the Games.
When the torch reached San Francisco on Wednesday, protests and vigils had been taking place for days. The city was chosen as the only stop in North America because of its large Asian population.
The Archbishop Desmond Tutu spoke to several thousand people at a candlelight vigil near City Hall on the eve of the torch’s arrival and called on President Bush to boycott the opening ceremony of the Games, which begin in August.
“To all the leaders of the world,” the Reverend Tutu said, “for goodness sake, don’t go to Beijing.
In London on Sunday, the relay turned into a tumult of scuffles and dozens of arrests.
And what was supposed to be a majestic procession through Paris resulted in waves of chaos last Monday, as human rights groups used the event to assail China’s record and make the Games an increasingly delicate political challenge for the ruling Communist Party.
At the Trocadero opposite the Eiffel Tower, human rights organizations like Amnesty International and press freedom groups like Reporters Without Borders protested side by side with representatives of a banned underground Chinese democracy party, Taiwan nationalists and proponents of independence for the Uighurs, a Muslim minority in western China.
“We all have the same problem,” Can Asgar, a leader of the Uighur diaspora in Munich, yelled into a microphone at the Trocadero.“Freedom for Uighurs. Freedom for Tibet. We must fight together.”
In Beijing last Monday, a spokeswoman for the city’s Olympic organizing committee, speaking before the disruptions in France, vowed that the relay would continue on its international route. “The torch represents the Olympic spirit, and people welcome the torch,” said Wang Hui, the spokeswoman. “The general public is very angry at this sabotage by a few separatists.”
Meanwhile, Jacques Rogge, the chairman of the International Olympic Committee, used a meeting of national Olympic Committee representatives in Beijing to criticize the London protests, but also to call for a rapid and peaceful solution to the confrontations in Tibet. He rejected the idea of boycotting the Games.
The Olympic flame began its trek from Ancient Olympia in Greece to Beijing on March 24, and was the focus of protests right from the start. The torch is now scheduled to travel to a dozen other countries before arriving in China on May 4.
In an interview on the VRT television network in his native Belgium, Mr. Rogge warned that pushing China too hard on Tibet and human rights would be counterproductive.
“If you know China, you know that mounting the barricades and using tough language will have the opposite effect,” he said. “China will close itself off from the rest of the world, which, don’t forget it, it has done for some 2,000 years.”