Great report! I watched the event as it rolled out, via CNN. I even watched the “sanitized” report on Chinese TV. This report filled in the blanks.
A couple of points:
I think the “torch relay team” was not the Chinese special ops forces used in London and Paris. I think CNN reported they were SF Swat team members, and there was fewer of them than Paris.
I also think that specific well defined “thresholds” for public safety
were met in a defined emergency preparedness plan were what lead to the decision to move to plan B. Plan B was in place all along, but I think I will give Newsome the benefit of the doubt, in that if they could have run the route, they would have… I give them credit for having a plan, and the plan wasn’t deception based but reality based.
Lastly, I am sad and happy I at least was able to take my then 3 1/2 year old, now 26 YO, sit her on my sholders and have her watch the torch run up Mission Blvd in Hayward in 84. The saddest pictures for me are the kids walking away with their parents.
PS. All the protesters have had since July 2001 to complain about China hosting the Olympics, but now it has become hip.
