The Inquirer

Issue date: 4/18/08 Section: Opinion

Media Credit: Adalto Nascimento

Mayor Gavin Newsom showed how truly spineless he is April 9 when the Olympic torch passed through San Francisco.

By changing the parade route and moving the closing ceremonies to a conference room at SFO, he stifled everyone's First Amendment right to free speech.

In addition to changing the route, city officials set up "free speech zones,' in which groups needed permits in order to protest.

Permits for some areas were denied altogether and others were delayed.

Anti-China protesters were ushered out of Justin Herman Plaza, the supposed end destination for the torch and an exhibition of Chinese dancers and marshal artists.

The city had originally said it would not discriminate against protesters, according to the ACLU.

The ACLU's Michael Risher quoted a police spokesperson as saying the "free speech zones" would be in areas "associated" with the route and the city was working with the Bejing Olympic Committee to address their concerns about protests.

It is a real conflict of interest when the City of San Francisco works with the BOC to decide a parade route.

Some Inquirer editors and staff members were near the Ferry Building and Embarcadero, where the torch was supposed to pass.

It never came.

And based on the ratio of police to protestors, the torch never was headed that way.

So people who had flown or driven in from all around the world - some to protest China's abuse of human rights, some to support China and many to simply participate in a historic moment - never got to see the torch.

Some rented expensive hotel rooms above the route and many took their children out of school to experience this once-in-a-life- time experience.

Instead, the torch ran a route where few people attended its passage.

Sure, a few lucky people came upon it by chance, and some chased it down.

But the majority of us were left feeling cheated.

It was a fine display of political gutlessness by Mayor Newsom and an affront to our inalienable right to speak our mind, regardless of whom it offends.

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