Police ramp up attacks; protest exposes candidate Coonerty's homeless-hostile past.

About ten of us clustered outside the Coonerty family's Bookshop Santa Cruz to begin an educational campaign of protest, distributing flyers and urging a "no" vote for Coonerty in November.

For me the protest was primarily against the local anti-homeless legislation and policies prompted and supported by Ryan Coonerty. Ami Chen Mills, his opponent, has yet to declare on restoring basic survival rights (not to mention overall human rights) to those outside without shelter being cattleherded by local police and rangers.

The point was also to highlight the City Council, headed by Mayor Fred Keeley, for its collusion with and silent support for the anti-homeless policies of the powerful City Mangler Matt Huffaker.

Cops recently followed up on Housing Matters (more accurately known as "Funding Matters") April 1st withdrawal of water, electricity, toilet access, and mail with regular gear-seizing sweeps of Coral St. sidewalks

There followed a complete ban on tents or resting along the sidewalk outside the multi-million dollar poverty pimp center with a complete ban on tents reminiscent of a Gaza-style "mowing the grass" approach..

Reports following the Coral Street mowing suggest police are now rousting those socializing along the San Lorenzo levee, or perhaps using the Bread and Roses meal (10;00 and on near the Dragonshead pedestrian bridge). One activist reports folks are told to "keep moving'.

The protest lasted more than an hour with informational flyers distributed to the strains of musical saw, saxophone, and flute from the neary Tom Scribbner statue. Considering the rising tempo of police aggression, it's likely the protest will be repeated.

Interviews from the protest can be found at https://www1.huffsantacruz.org/lost/1%20FRSC%208-23-26.mp3.

HUFF (Homeless United for Friendship and Freedom) meets 1:30 - 3:30 p.m Thursdays at 706 Front St. in the back of the open-air area behind the Museum of Art and History.

Santa Cruz Homeless Union meets 3;30 - 5 p.m Wednesdays. at the Calvary Episcopal Church at Lincoln and Cedar.

To receive information about forthcoming protests, contact HUFF at rnorse3 [at] hotmail.com.