FRESNO, CA - ACTIVISTS FLYER INSIDE THE GAP TWICE

Report on Anti-sweatshop/Gap demonstration
Saturday, June 1
I think that the best way to describe today’s anti-sweatshop/Gap demonstration is that it was a three ring circus. In ring number one we had the usual rally on Shaw Avenue. A dozen or so people with STOP GAP SWEATSHOP signs and lots of cars honking their support for our message. Ring two was the United Students Against Sweatshops table in the Fashion Fair mall where they handed out 100's of fliers to shoppers. Today they were located near the food court where they were warmly received by people walking by. The third and probably most interesting ring in this three ring circus was The Gap itself.

Three young activists entered The Gap store with fliers and signs condemning the use of sweatshop labor. The store manager was quick to tell them to leave and told them they were calling the police. However, Gap management DID NOT say that they were going to arrest the protesters if they did not leave. Another interesting thing about today was the number of Gap store employees. There must have been about 15 people working in the store. One of them was following the protesters around and would stand in front of them whenever George or I would take a picture. I was warned not to take pictures. The manager said that it was OK for me to be there but that I would not be allowed to take pictures. I did anyway. Other employees would follow customers around after they received a flier and explain to them that The Gap did not exploit women and children in sweatshops.

After handing out fliers to all of the customers in the store the students moved to the front entrance and handed out fliers to everyone entering. Potential customers were reluctant to come in and soon the store became pretty deserted except for the large number of clerks milling about.

Greg Dellfous, head of Fashion Fair security, told me that The Gap manager begged him to do something about the protesters. He told her that he would not do anything as long as they were in her store. If the protesters go into the common area of Fashion Fair and conduct a protest, they would be told to leave.

The protesters inside The Gap store remained until 1 PM. Seeing no police in sight, they left. While walking back to re-join the Shaw Ave rally we saw a police car parked at the front entrance of the mall. I decided to go back in and see if they had come for the anti-sweatshop protesters. Summoning Greg back to the security booth I asked him what was up. He said that the police had come to arrest a shoplifter. Greg said that The Gap manager had called the Fresno police who told her that they would not respond unless The Gap security had arrested us. If that was the case, Fresno Police would come and accept the arrest. But, it is my understanding that Fresno Police refused to make the arrests themselves.

Since The Gap management has allowed these protests to take place in their facility for two months in a row, I wonder if we have some sort of precedence here. Could they arrested us next month for doing something they have previously allowed? Sounds like a question for our legal counsel.

By the way, it was not our intention to get arrested today. If the police or Gap management had given us a warning that an arrest was imminent, we would have left. We were just testing the waters to see how far we could go.

Mike Rhodes
Editor
Community Alliance magazine
P.O. Box 5077
Fresno Ca 93755
(559) 233-3978 (work/messages)
AllianceEditor [at] attbi.com
http://www.fresnoalliance.com/home/