Olympic Torch Relay
San Francisco officials completely changed the route of the torch relay today to circumvent the protests that were obviously going to happen. It was transported to another part of the city, run for a short distance, before being shuttled to the airport and sent off. It was a completely cowardly act just so that China could point to it and say proudly that the event went without problems in San Francisco with only minimal protest along the route. It's shameful that the city's government would effectively nullify people's chance to voice their protest against the Chinese government. Instead, China, a country with such a shameful human rights record, continues to trumpet the Olympic flag around the world, dragging the symbol of peace and human concordance through the mud in a disgusting propagandist ploy. They want to appropriate this symbol to earn global goodwill and pride? Well, now they see how people across the world will chase their appropriated symbol so that it has to be shuttled secretly through its destinations. Some triumphant parade that is.
I find it especially deplorable that Mayor Gavin Newsom had the gall to say:
"We felt it was in everyone's best interest that we augment the route. I believe people were afforded the right to protest and support the torch. You saw that in the streets. They were not denied the ability to protest."
Augment???? Some abuse of language there, Mr. Newsom. And wow, those protesters sure were "afforded" the right to protest. Disgusting!
I find it especially deplorable that Mayor Gavin Newsom had the gall to say:
"We felt it was in everyone's best interest that we augment the route. I believe people were afforded the right to protest and support the torch. You saw that in the streets. They were not denied the ability to protest."
Augment???? Some abuse of language there, Mr. Newsom. And wow, those protesters sure were "afforded" the right to protest. Disgusting!