And so Mayor Ed Lee once again shows his true colors: he is tough as hell on Occupy SF protestors and, unlike every other mayor in every other U.S. city, sends in the cops to roust them out in two midnight raids and trumpets the word by bullhorn from the mayor's office that he will harass them until the end of time. Meanwhile, he is is quietly sending sending out the message that under his stewardship that City Hall will be safe for PG@E, the downtown gang, the big developers, the bailed banks, and the feds who are going after the dispensers of medical marijuana and the newspapers who run their ads. (Full disclosure: that's us at the Guardian.) B3
EDITORIAL This is what civility and compromise looks like:
At a little after 10 P.m. Oct 16, a squadron of San Francisco police equipped with riot gear raided and attempted to shut down the OccupySF protest. It was the second time San Francisco has embarrassed itself, becoming the only major U.S. city to attempt to evict members of the growing Occupation movement — and this time, the cops used a lot more force.
The first crackdown, on Oct. 5, was supposedly driven by concerns that the activists were using an open flame for their communal kitchen without the proper permits. This time around, the alleged lawbreaking was confined to a Park Code section that bans sleeping in city parkland after 10 p.m. And since Justin Herman Plaza, where OccupySF is camped, is technically under the jurisdiction of the Recreation and Park Department, that ordinance could be enforced. Read more »
