Activists arrested at Kelly-Moore site

The week of actions to demand affordable family housing and space for small businesses at the corner of Cesar Chavez and Mission in San Francisco continued today with thirteen arrests of protesters who tried to set up camp inside the chain link fence surrounding the vacant property. For more on the underlying issues, read this entry.


Around 11 am, marchers trooped in from the Day Laborer Center down the street -- I was told the SFPD had roughed up a couple of guys down there. The crowd was loud and insistent.


A solitary security guard got out of his car and ambled toward the crowd -- just in time to hear the people pictured above charging in from the other end of the lot! Despite the uniform, this guy is not an SFPD officer. He's a member of the Patrol Special Police, a private force paid for by business owners.


Protesters set up tents.


And explained themselves to KTVU Channel 2.


Pretty soon a squad of police turn up to reclaim the fenced parking lot, valuable private property.


For a few minutes, everyone waits for the order to "take them away."




And then the cops move in. There goes Michelle Foy of the Center for Political Education.


And Renee Saucedo of La Raza Centro Legal.


And the Rev. Brenda Vaca, a United Methodist minister to the Latino community.


Karl Kramer stands straight for his mug shot.

By noon this action was over.

The Patrol Special officer worried that he'd lost his job -- he certainly couldn't hold the lot by himself.

Community activists insist "another project is possible" at the Kelly-Moore site and urge as many people as possible to attend the Board of Supervisors meeting on July 17 to demand affordable housing!