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Indybay Feature
Green Party Attacked by SF Police at Dolores Park on 4th of July 2015
San Francisco's Democratic Party Park Police told the Green Party, which has had a table at the SF Mime Troupe Dolores Park performances since the Green Party's inception in 1990 or so, that it was not allowed to have an ironing board for a table since that is a household item and that the large Green Party sign they always have held up by 2 poles was not allowed because they thought it might make holes in the ground, a lie.
Meanwhile, the thousands attending the annual 4th of July performance of the 56 year old SF Mime Troupe, who were watching a live, excellent as usual performance, this year on the police state in the workingclass communities, sat and did nothing while this horrifying police state attack on an electoral party took place. Many, perhaps the majority, were guzzling alcohol, illegal in the parks, and many were drinking from glass bottles, also illegal in the park. Shortly after the 2 park police left, an illegal barbecue was set up in the same area, with stinking petroleum used to make the fire instead of wood, paper and a match, and all barbecues of any kind are illegal in the park and there is never any reason for any barbecue.
If just 100 people had surrounded the Green Party table, the 2 police would have backed down and gone away. We know that for sure because they did absolutely nothing about the obvious thousands of illegal alcohol guzzlers since they knew they were outnumbered 1,000 to 1. The performance could have stopped a few minutes while we stopped the Democratic Party's police state right here in San Francisco. It was all in full view of everyone. They acted like they were watching a TV show instead of fascism in action, brought to us by the San Francisco Democratic Party.
This writer has been attending SF Mime Troupe performances for most of the past 56 years and has never seen any park police in Dolores Park. This is an escalation of fascism being perpetrated in this city, along with the gentrification.
The park itself has been redone and is not user-friendly. The steep hill facing East, below the statute, is steeper than ever, now completely impossible for people with weak legs to climb up or down, and there is now a steep hill on the north side facing Mission High School which is very difficult to climb up or down. They also removed the beautiful trees on the West side facing the J Church streetcar line, which protected viewers of the performance from the sun, as well as held in the soil, and added to the beautiful ambience of Dolores Park. IT IS MANDATORY THAT TREES BE PLANTED AROUND THE ENTIRE PARK so as to hold the soil, protect people from the sun, provide something for people to hold onto while climbing up or down the steep hills, and enhance the beauty of the park. A good example of a tree-surrounded park is Washington Square Park.
Instead of paying Park Police to harass an electoral party, we should pay janitors to maintain our brand-new bathrooms at Dolores Park, which were closed on the 4th of July. After all, we have 18 billionaires and many more millionaires in San Francisco, so there is plenty of money to pay for clean bathrooms. Hopefully, the City paid for the Port-A-Potties that were in the park on the 4th of July.
The SF Mime Troupe is again in Dolores Park on July 5, music at 1:30 and show at 2 p.m. Let us hope the SF Democratic Party Police do not attack the Green Party again, and if they do, the audience gets up and surrounds the table to protect it. Again, the Green Party is a legal, electoral party with lots of constitutional rights. In San Francisco, we routinely use ironing board tables for election work. Poles for large signs are routine and do not damage the ground.
Our answer to the San Francisco Democratic Party's police attack on the Green Party must be to REGISTER GREEN or PEACE & FREEDOM and VOTE GREEN or PEACE & FREEDOM.
In San Francisco, the Green Party is running Francisco Herrera for Mayor. See
http://www.peoplescampaign.net/platform
Jill Stein is running for president on the Green Party ticket. See
http://www.jill2016.com/
You can register Peace & Freedom or Green online at https://covr.sos.ca.gov/?language=en-US
For more information, see:
http://www.peaceandfreedom.org/home/
http://www.peaceandfreedom.org/home/about-us/platform/full-platform
http://www.cagreens.org/
http://www.cagreens.org/platform
http://www.gp.org/index.php
http://www.gp.org/what-we-believe/our-platform
If just 100 people had surrounded the Green Party table, the 2 police would have backed down and gone away. We know that for sure because they did absolutely nothing about the obvious thousands of illegal alcohol guzzlers since they knew they were outnumbered 1,000 to 1. The performance could have stopped a few minutes while we stopped the Democratic Party's police state right here in San Francisco. It was all in full view of everyone. They acted like they were watching a TV show instead of fascism in action, brought to us by the San Francisco Democratic Party.
This writer has been attending SF Mime Troupe performances for most of the past 56 years and has never seen any park police in Dolores Park. This is an escalation of fascism being perpetrated in this city, along with the gentrification.
The park itself has been redone and is not user-friendly. The steep hill facing East, below the statute, is steeper than ever, now completely impossible for people with weak legs to climb up or down, and there is now a steep hill on the north side facing Mission High School which is very difficult to climb up or down. They also removed the beautiful trees on the West side facing the J Church streetcar line, which protected viewers of the performance from the sun, as well as held in the soil, and added to the beautiful ambience of Dolores Park. IT IS MANDATORY THAT TREES BE PLANTED AROUND THE ENTIRE PARK so as to hold the soil, protect people from the sun, provide something for people to hold onto while climbing up or down the steep hills, and enhance the beauty of the park. A good example of a tree-surrounded park is Washington Square Park.
Instead of paying Park Police to harass an electoral party, we should pay janitors to maintain our brand-new bathrooms at Dolores Park, which were closed on the 4th of July. After all, we have 18 billionaires and many more millionaires in San Francisco, so there is plenty of money to pay for clean bathrooms. Hopefully, the City paid for the Port-A-Potties that were in the park on the 4th of July.
The SF Mime Troupe is again in Dolores Park on July 5, music at 1:30 and show at 2 p.m. Let us hope the SF Democratic Party Police do not attack the Green Party again, and if they do, the audience gets up and surrounds the table to protect it. Again, the Green Party is a legal, electoral party with lots of constitutional rights. In San Francisco, we routinely use ironing board tables for election work. Poles for large signs are routine and do not damage the ground.
Our answer to the San Francisco Democratic Party's police attack on the Green Party must be to REGISTER GREEN or PEACE & FREEDOM and VOTE GREEN or PEACE & FREEDOM.
In San Francisco, the Green Party is running Francisco Herrera for Mayor. See
http://www.peoplescampaign.net/platform
Jill Stein is running for president on the Green Party ticket. See
http://www.jill2016.com/
You can register Peace & Freedom or Green online at https://covr.sos.ca.gov/?language=en-US
For more information, see:
http://www.peaceandfreedom.org/home/
http://www.peaceandfreedom.org/home/about-us/platform/full-platform
http://www.cagreens.org/
http://www.cagreens.org/platform
http://www.gp.org/index.php
http://www.gp.org/what-we-believe/our-platform
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I am not into electoral politics. However, this bogus police harrassment should not be allowed, period, no matter what you think of any of the electoral parties. Even if Tea or fascist party folks show up, we don't need cops to deal with them. In fact, cops usually protect them! Really folks, even if you aren't Green, surround the table, put your hands in the gears, etc.
There was also a time when you could get on the bus in SF without being detained by armed thugs as you have to prove that you paid the fare or be arrested. There was a time when San Franciscans acted like they cared about the homeless. SF Police are constantly harassing the growing homeless population. SF is just another US city that has become another Potterville. This time it sells out to the Bank of America and tech companies. When was the last march in San Francisco against Afghanistan or Iraq or Guantanamo? It has become pathetic.
I sympathize with the Green Party and do not agree with the police actions. But the article uses language that is so dramatic that I found myself thinking "what jerk wrote this"?
If I, a person sympathetic to the Green Party, had that reaction to the article, how will people who are neutral towards the Green Party react to the dramatic language used in the article?
"Fascist", "Attack" and "Police State" are much too strong. "Police Harass Green Party" is much more accurate and much less off putting language. An "Attack" would be something like the police using batons to beat the Green Party members.
You are only hurting yourselves by overstating the events that took place.
As for the crowd not rallying to protect the Green Party table, you should get used to the idea that this is no longer San Francisco. The signs leading to the city and maps may call this area "San Francisco", but the San Francisco where people rally around to protect the downtrodden or people advocating change, is long dead and buried. The rest of us attended the funeral for that San Francisco years and years ago.
If I, a person sympathetic to the Green Party, had that reaction to the article, how will people who are neutral towards the Green Party react to the dramatic language used in the article?
"Fascist", "Attack" and "Police State" are much too strong. "Police Harass Green Party" is much more accurate and much less off putting language. An "Attack" would be something like the police using batons to beat the Green Party members.
You are only hurting yourselves by overstating the events that took place.
As for the crowd not rallying to protect the Green Party table, you should get used to the idea that this is no longer San Francisco. The signs leading to the city and maps may call this area "San Francisco", but the San Francisco where people rally around to protect the downtrodden or people advocating change, is long dead and buried. The rest of us attended the funeral for that San Francisco years and years ago.
On behalf of the San Francisco Mime Troupe I would like to express our dismay at learning that Green Party representatives were harassed at the July 4 performance of Freedomland. The Mime Troupe members in attendance were focused on the performance on stage and did not realize that our friends in the Green Party were being accosted. We will endeavor to be more vigilant in the future and will continue to speak out against the over policing of our public spaces.
- Rotimi Agbabiaka, SFMT Collective Member -
- Rotimi Agbabiaka, SFMT Collective Member -
I was sitting near the sound booth, twenty feet away. I was going to go over and chat with the green organizers after the show but at one point noticed the sign was down. I thought, maybe its the wind, or maybe they had to go about there lives and were leaving. Later, I noticed two brown-shirted rangers talking to the green guy but they all had big smiles on their faces.
I had no idea they were being harassed for first amendment activities. The organizers should have screamed bloody murder and maybe that would have aroused some response from the audience...
I had no idea they were being harassed for first amendment activities. The organizers should have screamed bloody murder and maybe that would have aroused some response from the audience...
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