San Francisco Draws Parade of Protesters : Freedom: Groups join to voice their demands to the Soviet and South Korean leaders.

Long before Mikhail S. Gorbachev was even scheduled to arrive to hear them, about 6,000 Baltic, Jewish, Armenian and Chinese protesters rallied together Sunday in San Francisco, demanding freedom for their people.

The demonstration, including a march from the Chinese Consulate, unwound as Stanford University students speculated on tickets to Gorbachev’s speech there today and officials anxiously juggled schedules to accommodate the Soviet leader’s last-minute mini-summit with South Korean President Roh Tae Woo.

In a welcome typical of this protest-prone city, Roh was met Sunday morning by a solicitous Mayor Art Agnos--and 200 well-mannered demonstrators.

“Half were in support of the (South Korean) president; half were against him,” said San Francisco police Officer Alexa Raymer.

Despite a full schedule of nearly round-the-clock rallies and vigils set to color the Soviet leader’s 22 hours in Northern California, the Bay Area’s most experienced protesters--its large collection of Stalinists, Maoists and assorted other socialists--are sitting this one out.

“We don’t want to demonstrate against his visit,” said Carole Seligman of Socialist Action, a San Franciscan Trotskyite group. “We have many criticisms of what he’s doing, which we’ll bring up at a rally later this month. It would look like an anti-Communist demonstration if we did something while he is still here.”

Meanwhile, those most dedicated of capitalists, souvenir sellers, wasted no time in exploiting Gorbachev’s visit. On street corners and near hotels, those so inclined could buy T-shirts featuring Gorbachev’s portrait and such captions as “Radical Dude.” One woman sported a pin with Gorbachev’s likeness and the phrase, “I Like Mike.”

Such sentiments were not on the lapels of the 2,000 people police estimated gathered in front of the Chinese Consulate late Sunday afternoon. They denounced Gorbachev, along with Chinese Premier Li Peng, for violently stifling anti-government dissent.

“If Li Peng and Gorbachev aren’t careful, they’ll end up like Ceausescu,” said Romanian emigre Michael Olteanu of Vallejo, referring to deposed Romanian dictator Nicolae Ceausescu, who was executed after being ousted last year.

“The only way to gain freedom is by fighting for it!” he yelled, throwing a fist in the air as the largely Chinese crowd roared its approval.

As they walked from the consulate to another rally downtown, the protesters chanted, “Long live new China! Long live freedom!” They also marked the first anniversary of the military crackdown at Tian An Men Square in Beijing, in which hundreds or perhaps thousands died.

Among the demonstrators was J. J. Chin, 50, of Berkeley, carrying a sandwich board claiming, “Democracy Leads to Decadence.” Others in the crowd shouted Chinese curses at him until police went in to prevent violence.

Another Berkeley resident, Alice Chang, 29, adopted the opposite viewpoint, displaying an effigy of Li painted with the phrase “Shame on the murderers.” She said she planned to burn the figure near the Soviet consul general’s house after Gorbachev arrived.

“Gorbachev should see this,” she said. “It could be him someday.”

Nearby, a 24-year-old San Jose State University student, Barbara Liu, posed as the Goddess of Democracy, the statue destroyed by Chinese troops during the Tian An Men crackdown. Swaddled in a white cloth and coated in white paint, Liu shed a white wig to reveal the Chinese character for “think” painted in black atop her head.

“I’m defending the rights of people to think and be free,” she said.

Free was far from the minds of Stanford students who camped out in the hope of being permitted to buy one of about 200 unclaimed tickets for Gorbachev-related events there. Many of the 80 students waiting in line late Sunday afternoon said they dreamed of reselling their tickets for as much as $1,000.

“This is an exciting opportunity to see one of the leaders of the world,” said sophomore Sean Greenlee, an international relations major from Fairfield, Calif., “but it’s hard to resist the money.”

Edward Stevens, a Russian literature major from Ft. Lauderdale, Fla., said philosophically: “If Gorbachev was able to, he would be lying here right next to us, trying to make some money, too.”

Times staff writer Larry Gordon at Stanford contributed to this story.