The tide of protests that threatened to douse the Olympic flame in London and Paris is unlikely to surface when the Paralympic torch makes its way through Vancouver in August.
“I have trouble imagining that there would be a protest around the Paralympics,” said David Eby, a lawyer who blogs on the Olympics and homelessness at davideby.
blogspot.com. “The excesses and the displacement and the tourism that impacts on the low-income community comes from the able-bodied Olympics.”
In September, organizers of the Beijing Olympics announced the Paralympic Torch would pass through Vancouver, London, and Sochi, Russia.
A preliminary proposed route would see 40 people relay the torch from City Hall to Andy Livingstone Park in the Downtown Eastside.
Vancouver Mayor Sam Sullivan said the right to protest is important, but also doubts the relay would meet with serious resistance.
“This relay is about inclusiveness. It’s about disability. It’s about inspiration. It’s about healing and rehabilitation. I don’t think the public will be very sympathetic to people trying to disrupt this event.”
Sullivan added he’d love to take part in the relay and believes the bracket that allowed him to wave the Olympic flag in Torino could be easily modified to hold a torch.
