Mexico attracting spring breakers despite violence
AP – **CORRECTS STRING TO STRONG** FILE- This Monday, March 1, 2010 file photo shows students on spring … MEXICO CITY – Spring break reservations for Mexico from U.S. college students remain steady, travel industry experts say, despite near-daily reports of drug violence there. Cheap prices in Mexico, a slowly strengthening economy here, the relative safety of many tourist resorts and the fact that the 2009 swine flu pandemic is now all but forgotten are all factors in Mexico's resilience as a spring break destination.
That's particularly true of Cancun — Mexico's top beach destination, said Patrick Evans of STA Travel, one of the biggest spring break travel agencies.
"Cancun has always been the most popular among students, and it's still tremendously safe, as long as someone is staying in the resort areas," he said.
Tens of thousands of high school- and college-age Americans travel to Mexican resort areas during spring break each year.
This year, reservations for Mexico from students at Oberlin, Baldwin-Wallace and other colleges have been coming in strong for months, said Kim Gray, a travel agent in North Olmsted, Ohio, with Travel Leaders, one of the top 10 travel agencies in the U.S.
They're heading to Cancun, Playa del Carmen and other destinations on the Riviera Maya, she said.
"Some of them want to get away from the big crowds of Cancun and spend time in a small town where there's still beautiful beaches," she said.
The area is far from the U.S. border, where most of the drug violence has taken place, and where the U.S. State Department recently warned students not to travel, said Alfonso Sumano, director of the Americas for the Mexico Tourism Board.
Also, drug-related violence involving American tourists at beaches and other Mexican tourist destinations is extremely rare, he said.
Still, Gray said she saw many more guards with machine guns on the streets and beaches during her own trip to the Riviera Maya in November.
That didn't worry the group of nurses she was traveling with, and it probably won't faze most students, she said.
"When you're 20 years old, you think you're invincible," Gray said.
Cabo San Lucas, also a good distance from the border at the lower tip of Baja California, is where Caitlin Cronin, a junior at Arizona State University in Tempe, Ariz., and her friends are heading this year.
"I'm not necessarily worried," she said. "And I don't know if that's because I'm naive, or because I just haven't been there in a while."
However, Acapulco has taken a huge hit in travel reservations due to drug violence, said Jason Chute, the director of operations for StudentCity.com.
The Pacific coast city, one of Mexico's oldest resort cities and a traditional spring break destination with vibrant nightlife, has seen beheadings and massacres as traffickers fight over turf.
The State Department noted that Acapulco's violence hasn't been directed at tourists. However, hotel owners and U.S. travel agents say reservations have dropped sharply.
While the slow U.S. economy was the main factor in drawing some students away from traveling to Mexico last year, near-daily reports of drug violence have hurt some this year, Chute said. As an alternative, some students are seeking package deals for Punta Cana, a beach resort in the Dominican Republic, he said.
The September attack on American tourist David Hartley and his wife on Falcon Lake, on the Texas-Mexico border, has been particularly damaging to travelers' perception of Mexico, Chute said. Tiffany Hartley said she and her husband were Jet-Skiing in Mexican waters when pirates fired on them, striking her husband and forcing her to flee. His body hasn't been recovered.
"That was on 'Good Morning America' for a month straight," Chute said. "Stuff like that affects where people are going to go, even though in the tourist zones, we're not seeing that kind of activity."
Tom Black, a freshman at Arizona State, said he wouldn't even consider traveling to Mexico. The 18-year-old instead is heading to Pennsylvania to visit family.
"All the stuff you hear about, the violence," he said. "Especially since it could be aimed at Americans and at kids. I think we could be targets."
Despite that perception, Mexico's Ministry of Tourism said the number of foreign visitors in 2010 exceeded the approximately 22 million travelers who arrived in 2008 — before the outbreak of swine flu in April 2009 left resorts empty for much of the rest of the year.
The U.S. Commerce Department said visits to Mexico by US residents rose 8 percent during the first six months of 2010 — a period that includes spring break months — compared to the same time period in 2009.
Much of that has been attributable to the favorable exchange rate and cheaper package deals at Mexican resorts, Travel Leaders spokeswoman Kathy Gerhardt said.
Most U.S. travelers understand that the violence is confined to specific areas, she said. And a lot of college students, with their fixed income, are attracted to the all-encompassing deals at resorts.
"It boils down to value overall," Gerhardt said. "People, particularly with the winter we've been having, they're looking for sun and fun and value."
During the event, in which Palin was interviewed by the Long Island Association's president, she sounded off about presidential things--the deficit, whether or not to raise the nation's debt ceiling and President Obama's health-care reform law. And she weighed in on the debate over Obama's citizenship, reportedly saying it is "distracting. It gets annoying. Let's stick to what really matters."
But if that's what she really wants people to do, why did she crack a joke about Michelle Obama's campaign to make it easier for women to breastfeed? When the conversation turned to the escalating price of gas and groceries, Palin reportedly said, "It's no wonder Michelle Obama is telling everybody you better breastfeed your baby--yeah, you better--because the price of milk is so high right now!"
It may have just been an attempt to draw a laugh from the crowd over issues--childhood obesity and the medically proven benefits of breastfeeding--that are no laughing matter. But even though she followed up by saying "and may that not be the takeaway, please, of this speech," it has become one of them. Headlines saying that Palin was mocking Michelle Obama's attempt to make it easier for women to breastfeed have lead stories following the speech.
Who knows whether or not Palin will run for the nation's highest office. But if she does, comments like this one do little to make her sound presidential. For one, even if it was a joke, Palin was making light of something that has to do with the future of this country--the health and well-being of its children. And even if Palin spent most of the talk discussing deficits, health-care reform and foreign affairs, it's unnecessary side comments like these that will--whether she likes it or not--lead the news.
Just consider the contrast in the coverage following Palin's talk with the coverage following New Jersey Governor Chris Christie's speech at the American Enterprise Institute Wednesday. While political experts lauded Christie--who has repeatedly said he won't run for president--with praise for his straight talk and focus on the meaning of leadership during the speech, Palin's unusually open event found her the subject of much less flattering headlines.
Leaders are judged as much on what they do take the time to weigh in on as on what they don't say at all. Jumping into the debate about Michelle Obama's campaign to fight childhood obesity, and make breastfeeding easier for those women who choose to do it, may have been like throwing candy to certain elements of her base. But if she wants to sound presidential, then sticking to what really matters (as Palin puts it) without throwing in little cracks about a universally agreed-upon problem would be a lot less, in a word, distracting.
That's particularly true of Cancun — Mexico's top beach destination, said Patrick Evans of STA Travel, one of the biggest spring break travel agencies.
"Cancun has always been the most popular among students, and it's still tremendously safe, as long as someone is staying in the resort areas," he said.
Tens of thousands of high school- and college-age Americans travel to Mexican resort areas during spring break each year.
This year, reservations for Mexico from students at Oberlin, Baldwin-Wallace and other colleges have been coming in strong for months, said Kim Gray, a travel agent in North Olmsted, Ohio, with Travel Leaders, one of the top 10 travel agencies in the U.S.
They're heading to Cancun, Playa del Carmen and other destinations on the Riviera Maya, she said.
"Some of them want to get away from the big crowds of Cancun and spend time in a small town where there's still beautiful beaches," she said.
The area is far from the U.S. border, where most of the drug violence has taken place, and where the U.S. State Department recently warned students not to travel, said Alfonso Sumano, director of the Americas for the Mexico Tourism Board.
Also, drug-related violence involving American tourists at beaches and other Mexican tourist destinations is extremely rare, he said.
Still, Gray said she saw many more guards with machine guns on the streets and beaches during her own trip to the Riviera Maya in November.
That didn't worry the group of nurses she was traveling with, and it probably won't faze most students, she said.
"When you're 20 years old, you think you're invincible," Gray said.
Cabo San Lucas, also a good distance from the border at the lower tip of Baja California, is where Caitlin Cronin, a junior at Arizona State University in Tempe, Ariz., and her friends are heading this year.
"I'm not necessarily worried," she said. "And I don't know if that's because I'm naive, or because I just haven't been there in a while."
However, Acapulco has taken a huge hit in travel reservations due to drug violence, said Jason Chute, the director of operations for StudentCity.com.
The Pacific coast city, one of Mexico's oldest resort cities and a traditional spring break destination with vibrant nightlife, has seen beheadings and massacres as traffickers fight over turf.
The State Department noted that Acapulco's violence hasn't been directed at tourists. However, hotel owners and U.S. travel agents say reservations have dropped sharply.
While the slow U.S. economy was the main factor in drawing some students away from traveling to Mexico last year, near-daily reports of drug violence have hurt some this year, Chute said. As an alternative, some students are seeking package deals for Punta Cana, a beach resort in the Dominican Republic, he said.
The September attack on American tourist David Hartley and his wife on Falcon Lake, on the Texas-Mexico border, has been particularly damaging to travelers' perception of Mexico, Chute said. Tiffany Hartley said she and her husband were Jet-Skiing in Mexican waters when pirates fired on them, striking her husband and forcing her to flee. His body hasn't been recovered.
"That was on 'Good Morning America' for a month straight," Chute said. "Stuff like that affects where people are going to go, even though in the tourist zones, we're not seeing that kind of activity."
Tom Black, a freshman at Arizona State, said he wouldn't even consider traveling to Mexico. The 18-year-old instead is heading to Pennsylvania to visit family.
"All the stuff you hear about, the violence," he said. "Especially since it could be aimed at Americans and at kids. I think we could be targets."
Despite that perception, Mexico's Ministry of Tourism said the number of foreign visitors in 2010 exceeded the approximately 22 million travelers who arrived in 2008 — before the outbreak of swine flu in April 2009 left resorts empty for much of the rest of the year.
The U.S. Commerce Department said visits to Mexico by US residents rose 8 percent during the first six months of 2010 — a period that includes spring break months — compared to the same time period in 2009.
Much of that has been attributable to the favorable exchange rate and cheaper package deals at Mexican resorts, Travel Leaders spokeswoman Kathy Gerhardt said.
Most U.S. travelers understand that the violence is confined to specific areas, she said. And a lot of college students, with their fixed income, are attracted to the all-encompassing deals at resorts.
"It boils down to value overall," Gerhardt said. "People, particularly with the winter we've been having, they're looking for sun and fun and value."
Palin's milk joke goes sour
Sarah Palin spoke Thursday at the Long Island Association, a business group in New York. The event was notable for the fact that Palin invited the press--something she does rarely. And it was newsworthy in that she gave another sign she might actually run for president: News reports say she hinted with a smile that someone who is good at multitasking ("a woman, a mom"), as well as someone who's already run for something ("a vice-presidential candidate?") would be most qualified for the job.During the event, in which Palin was interviewed by the Long Island Association's president, she sounded off about presidential things--the deficit, whether or not to raise the nation's debt ceiling and President Obama's health-care reform law. And she weighed in on the debate over Obama's citizenship, reportedly saying it is "distracting. It gets annoying. Let's stick to what really matters."
But if that's what she really wants people to do, why did she crack a joke about Michelle Obama's campaign to make it easier for women to breastfeed? When the conversation turned to the escalating price of gas and groceries, Palin reportedly said, "It's no wonder Michelle Obama is telling everybody you better breastfeed your baby--yeah, you better--because the price of milk is so high right now!"
It may have just been an attempt to draw a laugh from the crowd over issues--childhood obesity and the medically proven benefits of breastfeeding--that are no laughing matter. But even though she followed up by saying "and may that not be the takeaway, please, of this speech," it has become one of them. Headlines saying that Palin was mocking Michelle Obama's attempt to make it easier for women to breastfeed have lead stories following the speech.
Who knows whether or not Palin will run for the nation's highest office. But if she does, comments like this one do little to make her sound presidential. For one, even if it was a joke, Palin was making light of something that has to do with the future of this country--the health and well-being of its children. And even if Palin spent most of the talk discussing deficits, health-care reform and foreign affairs, it's unnecessary side comments like these that will--whether she likes it or not--lead the news.
Just consider the contrast in the coverage following Palin's talk with the coverage following New Jersey Governor Chris Christie's speech at the American Enterprise Institute Wednesday. While political experts lauded Christie--who has repeatedly said he won't run for president--with praise for his straight talk and focus on the meaning of leadership during the speech, Palin's unusually open event found her the subject of much less flattering headlines.
Leaders are judged as much on what they do take the time to weigh in on as on what they don't say at all. Jumping into the debate about Michelle Obama's campaign to fight childhood obesity, and make breastfeeding easier for those women who choose to do it, may have been like throwing candy to certain elements of her base. But if she wants to sound presidential, then sticking to what really matters (as Palin puts it) without throwing in little cracks about a universally agreed-upon problem would be a lot less, in a word, distracting.
By Jena McGregor
| February 18, 2011; 9:22 AM ET | Category: Bad leadership , Presidential leadership , Women in leadershipPrince William and Kate Middleton's Wedding Day Live Via Internet Feed
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What's the biggest difference between the upcoming wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton and Prince Charles' wedding to the late Princess Diana? It's the power of the Internet. In 1981, most people only relied on magazines, newspapers, tabloids and television to get their updates about the royal wedding, which was, back then, dubbed as "The Wedding of the Century." Fast forward to almost 30 years later, another Wedding of the Century is in the making -- that of Prince William and Kate Middleton. With the Internet, news travel faster. You can search online for the latest updates on the upcoming wedding before they even hit the newsstands.
The Internet has the advantage of speed. By the time any news hits the newsstands, it's already old news because the Internet released the story first. If you are an avid royal follower, you can even subscribe to get updates or become a fan of several news agencies that are following the wedding that post on the pages of social networking sites, such as Yahoo!'s Facebook page called "The Royal Wedding on Yahoo! News." You can also get the updates right at the palm of your hand by using your iPhone or Smartphone.
On the wedding day itself, many will tune in not only on the live televised newscast of the wedding ceremony, but on live Internet feeds as well. Therefore, you don't have to be in front of a television to be able to watch the festivities along with millions around the world. With Wi-Fi, you can watch the wedding wherever you go that have Wi-Fi service; even better if you have an air card. You can watch while on a public transportation equipped with Wi-Fi or while at an airport waiting for your flight.
Right after the wedding, you don't have to wait for the video release of the wedding ceremony in stores or watch a replay on television. You can just go online to watch several uploads on video networking sites coming from both individuals and news agencies. The videos may not only come from news agencies, but any bystander that has a digital camera or cell phone equipped with video camera who was present in the locations near the wedding. Bloggers all over the world who are following the upcoming royal nuptials will have a field day as they share their recap of the event via the Internet.
Someone somewhere may have a friend who's a friend of a friend who will be in London on April 29 to share their pictures, videos and blogs on the Internet. Undoubtedly, Prince William's marriage to Kate Middleton will reach more people than his parent's own wedding in 1981 because of the Internet. Could this mean that the new couple may become more popular than Prince Charles and Princess Diana back then? Well, the answer may come in the number of page views each video upload or news about the couple posted on the Internet will receive during and after the wedding. So, go ahead Tweet it, Facebook it and You Tube it for more royal wedding updates.
Resources:
Wedding Central
The Internet has the advantage of speed. By the time any news hits the newsstands, it's already old news because the Internet released the story first. If you are an avid royal follower, you can even subscribe to get updates or become a fan of several news agencies that are following the wedding that post on the pages of social networking sites, such as Yahoo!'s Facebook page called "The Royal Wedding on Yahoo! News." You can also get the updates right at the palm of your hand by using your iPhone or Smartphone.
On the wedding day itself, many will tune in not only on the live televised newscast of the wedding ceremony, but on live Internet feeds as well. Therefore, you don't have to be in front of a television to be able to watch the festivities along with millions around the world. With Wi-Fi, you can watch the wedding wherever you go that have Wi-Fi service; even better if you have an air card. You can watch while on a public transportation equipped with Wi-Fi or while at an airport waiting for your flight.
Right after the wedding, you don't have to wait for the video release of the wedding ceremony in stores or watch a replay on television. You can just go online to watch several uploads on video networking sites coming from both individuals and news agencies. The videos may not only come from news agencies, but any bystander that has a digital camera or cell phone equipped with video camera who was present in the locations near the wedding. Bloggers all over the world who are following the upcoming royal nuptials will have a field day as they share their recap of the event via the Internet.
Someone somewhere may have a friend who's a friend of a friend who will be in London on April 29 to share their pictures, videos and blogs on the Internet. Undoubtedly, Prince William's marriage to Kate Middleton will reach more people than his parent's own wedding in 1981 because of the Internet. Could this mean that the new couple may become more popular than Prince Charles and Princess Diana back then? Well, the answer may come in the number of page views each video upload or news about the couple posted on the Internet will receive during and after the wedding. So, go ahead Tweet it, Facebook it and You Tube it for more royal wedding updates.
Resources:
Wedding Central
China tries to stamp out 'Jasmine Revolution'
BEIJING – Jittery Chinese authorities wary of any domestic dissent staged a concerted show of force Sunday to squelch a mysterious online call for a "Jasmine Revolution" apparently modeled after pro-democracy demonstrations sweeping the Middle East.
Authorities detained activists, increased the number of police on the streets, disconnected some mobile phone text messaging services and censored Internet postings about the call to stage protests at 2 p.m. in Beijing, Shanghai and 11 other major cities.
The campaign did not gain much traction among ordinary citizens and the chances of overthrowing the Communist government are slim, considering Beijing's tight controls over the media and Internet. A student-led, pro-democracy movement in 1989 was crushed by the military and hundreds, perhaps thousands, were killed.
On Sunday, police took at least three people away in Beijing, one of whom tried to lay down white jasmine flowers while hundreds of people milled about the protest gathering spot, outside a McDonald's on the capital's busiest shopping street. In Shanghai, police led away three people near the planned protest spot after they scuffled in an apparent bid to grab the attention of passers-by.
Many activists said they didn't know who was behind the campaign and weren't sure what to make of the call to protest, which first circulated Saturday on the U.S.-based, Chinese-language news website Boxun.com.
The unsigned notice called for a "Jasmine revolution" — the name given to the Tunisian protest movement — and urged people "to take responsibility for the future." Participants were urged to shout, "We want food, we want work, we want housing, we want fairness" — a slogan that highlights common complaints among Chinese.
The call is likely to fuel anxiety among China's authoritarian government, which is ever alert for domestic discontent and has appeared unnerved by recent protests in Egypt, Tunisia, Bahrain, Yemen, Algeria and Libya. It has limited media reports about them, stressing the instability caused by the protests, and restricted Internet searches to keep Chinese uninformed about Middle Easterners' grievances against their autocratic rulers.
On Saturday in a speech to national and provincial officials, President Hu Jintao ordered them to "solve prominent problems which might harm the harmony and stability of the society."
China's extensive filtering and monitoring of the Internet meant that most Chinese were unlikely to know about Saturday's call to protest. Boxun.com, for example, is blocked as are Twitter and Facebook, which were instrumental in Egypt's protest movement. Still, young tech-smart Chinese are savvy about getting around controls.
One person sitting in the McDonald's after the brief protest in Beijing said he saw Sunday's gathering as a dry run.
"Lots of people in here are Twitter users and came to watch like me," said 42-year-old Hu Di. "Actually this didn't have much organization, but it's a chance to meet each other. It's like preparing for the future."
With foot traffic always heavy at the Wangfujing pedestrian mall, it was difficult to discern who showed up to protest, who came to watch and who was out shopping. Rubberneckers outnumbered any potential protesters. Many wondered if there was a celebrity in the area because of the heavy police presence and dozens of foreign reporters and news cameras.
As the crowd swelled back and forth and police urged people to move on, 25-year-old Liu Xiaobai placed a white jasmine flower on a planter in front of the McDonald's and took some photos with his cell phone.
"I'm quite scared because they took away my phone. I just put down some white flowers, what's wrong with that?" Liu said afterward. "I'm just a normal citizen and I just want peace."
Security agents tried to take away Liu, but he was swarmed by journalists and eventually was seen walking away with a friend.
Two other people were taken away by police, including a shabbily dressed old man who was cursing and shouting, though it wasn't clear if he was there because of the online call to protest.
In Shanghai, three young men were taken away from outside a Starbucks coffee shop in People's Square by police, who refused to answer reporters' questions about why they were detained. They trio had been shouting complaints about the government and that food prices are too high.
A couple dozen older people were drawn to the commotion and started voicing their own complaints and saying they wanted democracy and the right to vote. One woman jumped up on a roadside cement block to shout, "The government are all hooligans," then ran off, only to return a bit later and shout again at the police and others crowded in the area before once again scampering away.
Security officials were relaxed toward the retirees and the crowd eventually drifted away.
There were no reports of protests in other cities where people were urged to gather, such as Guangzhou, Tianjin, Wuhan and Chengdu.
Ahead of the planned protests, human rights groups estimated that anywhere from several dozen to more than 100 activists in cities across China were detained by police, confined to their homes or were missing. Families and friends reported the detention or harassment of several dissidents, and some activists said they were warned not to participate.
On Sunday, searches for "jasmine" were blocked on China's largest Twitter-like microblog, and status updates with the word on popular Chinese social networking site Renren.com were met with an error message and a warning to refrain from postings with "political, sensitive ... or other inappropriate content."
A mass text messaging service from China Mobile was unavailable in Beijing on Sunday due to an upgrade, according to a customer service operator for the leading service provider, who did not know how long the suspension would last. In the past, Chinese authorities have suspended text messaging in politically tense areas to prevent organizing.
Boxun.com said its website was attacked by hackers Saturday after it posted the call to protest. A temporary site, on which users were reporting heavy police presence in several cities, was up and running Sunday. The site said in a statement it had no way of verifying the origins of the campaign.
___
Associated Press writers Cara Anna and Charles Hutzler in Beijing and Elaine Kurtenbach in Shanghai contributed to this report.
Authorities detained activists, increased the number of police on the streets, disconnected some mobile phone text messaging services and censored Internet postings about the call to stage protests at 2 p.m. in Beijing, Shanghai and 11 other major cities.
The campaign did not gain much traction among ordinary citizens and the chances of overthrowing the Communist government are slim, considering Beijing's tight controls over the media and Internet. A student-led, pro-democracy movement in 1989 was crushed by the military and hundreds, perhaps thousands, were killed.
On Sunday, police took at least three people away in Beijing, one of whom tried to lay down white jasmine flowers while hundreds of people milled about the protest gathering spot, outside a McDonald's on the capital's busiest shopping street. In Shanghai, police led away three people near the planned protest spot after they scuffled in an apparent bid to grab the attention of passers-by.
Many activists said they didn't know who was behind the campaign and weren't sure what to make of the call to protest, which first circulated Saturday on the U.S.-based, Chinese-language news website Boxun.com.
The unsigned notice called for a "Jasmine revolution" — the name given to the Tunisian protest movement — and urged people "to take responsibility for the future." Participants were urged to shout, "We want food, we want work, we want housing, we want fairness" — a slogan that highlights common complaints among Chinese.
The call is likely to fuel anxiety among China's authoritarian government, which is ever alert for domestic discontent and has appeared unnerved by recent protests in Egypt, Tunisia, Bahrain, Yemen, Algeria and Libya. It has limited media reports about them, stressing the instability caused by the protests, and restricted Internet searches to keep Chinese uninformed about Middle Easterners' grievances against their autocratic rulers.
On Saturday in a speech to national and provincial officials, President Hu Jintao ordered them to "solve prominent problems which might harm the harmony and stability of the society."
China's extensive filtering and monitoring of the Internet meant that most Chinese were unlikely to know about Saturday's call to protest. Boxun.com, for example, is blocked as are Twitter and Facebook, which were instrumental in Egypt's protest movement. Still, young tech-smart Chinese are savvy about getting around controls.
One person sitting in the McDonald's after the brief protest in Beijing said he saw Sunday's gathering as a dry run.
"Lots of people in here are Twitter users and came to watch like me," said 42-year-old Hu Di. "Actually this didn't have much organization, but it's a chance to meet each other. It's like preparing for the future."
With foot traffic always heavy at the Wangfujing pedestrian mall, it was difficult to discern who showed up to protest, who came to watch and who was out shopping. Rubberneckers outnumbered any potential protesters. Many wondered if there was a celebrity in the area because of the heavy police presence and dozens of foreign reporters and news cameras.
As the crowd swelled back and forth and police urged people to move on, 25-year-old Liu Xiaobai placed a white jasmine flower on a planter in front of the McDonald's and took some photos with his cell phone.
"I'm quite scared because they took away my phone. I just put down some white flowers, what's wrong with that?" Liu said afterward. "I'm just a normal citizen and I just want peace."
Security agents tried to take away Liu, but he was swarmed by journalists and eventually was seen walking away with a friend.
Two other people were taken away by police, including a shabbily dressed old man who was cursing and shouting, though it wasn't clear if he was there because of the online call to protest.
In Shanghai, three young men were taken away from outside a Starbucks coffee shop in People's Square by police, who refused to answer reporters' questions about why they were detained. They trio had been shouting complaints about the government and that food prices are too high.
A couple dozen older people were drawn to the commotion and started voicing their own complaints and saying they wanted democracy and the right to vote. One woman jumped up on a roadside cement block to shout, "The government are all hooligans," then ran off, only to return a bit later and shout again at the police and others crowded in the area before once again scampering away.
Security officials were relaxed toward the retirees and the crowd eventually drifted away.
There were no reports of protests in other cities where people were urged to gather, such as Guangzhou, Tianjin, Wuhan and Chengdu.
Ahead of the planned protests, human rights groups estimated that anywhere from several dozen to more than 100 activists in cities across China were detained by police, confined to their homes or were missing. Families and friends reported the detention or harassment of several dissidents, and some activists said they were warned not to participate.
On Sunday, searches for "jasmine" were blocked on China's largest Twitter-like microblog, and status updates with the word on popular Chinese social networking site Renren.com were met with an error message and a warning to refrain from postings with "political, sensitive ... or other inappropriate content."
A mass text messaging service from China Mobile was unavailable in Beijing on Sunday due to an upgrade, according to a customer service operator for the leading service provider, who did not know how long the suspension would last. In the past, Chinese authorities have suspended text messaging in politically tense areas to prevent organizing.
Boxun.com said its website was attacked by hackers Saturday after it posted the call to protest. A temporary site, on which users were reporting heavy police presence in several cities, was up and running Sunday. The site said in a statement it had no way of verifying the origins of the campaign.
___
Associated Press writers Cara Anna and Charles Hutzler in Beijing and Elaine Kurtenbach in Shanghai contributed to this report.
Freedom is good and it has a price. Libya is not a kingdom. Shame to dictators. Long life to democracy, LONG LIFE TO THOSE WHO LOST THEIR LIFE TO FIGHT INJUSTICE, ABUSE, POVERTY...We will not forget...
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