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Indybay Feature

Innovative COVID-19 Safe Protest in San Francisco

by Protest News
Boisterous Car Rally Honks for Justice for ICE Detainees
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Photos: Leon Kunstenaar, Ruth Robertson and Carla Avitabile

On March 31, approximately 75 people in about 50 cars in San Francisco rallied to demand that Governor Gavin Newsom release the approximately 6,000 immigrants held in ICE detention centers in California. They are without adequate health and sanitation measures to prevent the spread of COVID-19. These detention centers could turn into death camps.

A broad coalition of groups, including Democratic Socialists of America, Indivisible, By Any Means Necessary, Refuse Facism, and the Raging Grannies Action League, supported this car rally to pressure public officials to protect immigrants from the COVID-19 virus by freeing them. Never Again Action deftly pulled the action together with precision.

Under extensive Shelter in Place orders, the State has severely restricted the right of people to assemble. A car rally is one creative protest method allowable under present conditions.

The group met at a parking lot at Broadway and the Embarcadero. After a brief program listing the group’s demands and explaining the logistics of the car rally, the first for almost every participant, the caravan moved slowly and noisily through the streets of San Francisco.

It circled the ICE office on Sansome Street, stopped for about 15 minutes outside Nancy Pelosi’s office at the Federal Building on 7th Street, and finished by surrounding City Hall with vehicles plastered with flags, banners and creative, homemade signs. For the most part, the SFPD left the group alone, except for blocking the planned route at 7th and Market Streets after the visit to the Federal Building. The savvy protesters quickly adjusted their tactics to continue to City Hall.

The San Francisco streets were largely empty except for “essential” workers and people with no place to shelter; that is, hundreds to thousands of poor and homeless people. It was distressing to see clusters of workers repairing streets without masks.

Hopefully, this car rally will be the first of many physical, in person protests in San Francisco during what looks to be a long period of virtual house arrest throughout California and the United States.
§Sign in Car Window
by Protest News
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§Nadie Es Ilegal
by Protest News
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No One is Illegal
§Las Abuelitas Enojadas = The Raging Grannies
by Protest News
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The first E in Enojadas covered by a tree
§Detention Centers Have Become Death Camps
by Protest News
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§Release All Detainees
by Protest News
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§Start Off by Learning the Route
by Protest News
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Gathering at a parking lot, demonstrators listen keenly to organizers for ground rules and route details.
§Gathering Point
by Protest News
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Parking lot at 50 Broadway Street near the Ferry Building
§Free Them All
by Protest News
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§Detention is Deadly
by Protest News
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T-shirts by DSA (Democratic Socialists of America) and Sunrise Movement
§630 Sansome St. is ICE
by Protest News
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§Free Them All with Fist Banner
by Protest News
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§Free Them Now!
by Protest News
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§Long Line of Cars Ready to Turn on to Market St.
by Protest News
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All in the caravan
§Democratic Socialists of America
by Protest News
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§BAMN
by Protest News
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Cars decorated by members of BAMN "By Any Means Necessary"
§Road Crew Working Without Masks
by Protest News
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At the Federal Building
§Facing the Federal Building
by Protest News
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Where Nancy Pelosi has her San Francisco Office
§Two Lanes of Caravaners near Federal Building
by Protest News
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