So, I volunteered to photograph the SF protest. I did a good job keeping quiet most of the time, but some people are just so dumb!
There was one fight between an old guy and a black kid who was with some friends with a sign against capitalism. I do not think the kids threw the first punch, they were trying to get a rise out of these guys and did so. When the protesters pulled them apart, the kid ran away and the guy went after him! Luckily for all he came back. I told him he was lucky he did not beat that kid up, he told me to smoke a joint. I asked him if he had any as I was out. LOL
I estimate there were about 300 - 400 people who showed up during the event. It was not very well organized, the cops were not expecting them, they left the first spot really fast to march to Pelosi's office, losing protesters who showed up after they left I bet.
Here is a picture of the Farmers Market at Civic Center, it was packed:
And here is the crowd for the protest:
More after the fold.
The first thing I noticed was there was not one person of color at the event. Later in the day I found one black woman carrying a flag and asked her if she was part of the protest. She said yes. I asked her if she realized she was the only person of color at the event. She said yes, and she was not happy about that.
There were two people with anti-immigrant signs, including one calling for the repeal of the 14th amendment!!!
Selfishness was big at these protests, and the Ayn Rand people were in full force here in SF today:
And assorted others.
This guy thinks he got a tax hike, I asked him didn't he knew he got a tax cut? He said "No way, 'Barry' is raising my taxes! (I guess he is also one that thinks Obama is not a citizen.
In one of my 'discussions' there a woman was yelling that she lost rights thanks to Obama's election. I could not resist asking her what rights she lost (very nicely). And she just looked at me for a minute saying nothing. I saved her by telling her 'I can tell you what right I lost, I lost the right to marry the person I love since the election, and asked her if she voted for Prop 8 or not. She walked away.
Some of the signs were a bit scary:
They left Civic Center to go the Federal Building (Pelosi's SF office)
I did not have the heart to tell this guy that it is the conservatives that are trying to change the Constitution.
This was on the back of a woman who had to be 75 if she was a day:
And our local right wing radio station was kind enough to print up signs:
More pics:
I asked this woman if she was planning to give up here Social Security and Medicare when she is old enough to get them. She looked at me like I was crazy and asked me what that had to do with Socialism. <sigh>
This guy had his son hold a sign saying BEND OVER. Do you think he explained it to this kid?
This woman was so proud of her sign:
And the only sign I saw all day that made some sense, but the funny thing is in this pic she is explaining to one of the protesters what it means. They told her they didn't get this whole 'AIG' thing.
A few kids showed up (semi-anarchist types with a sign that said Capitalism sucks) and this old guy told them they had to leave that they were not allowed to participate in his protest. This is when the fight I mentioned above happened, but with another old guy.