A Play-By-Play of Last Night’s Protest

A Play-By-Play of Last Night’s Protest
Ryan Curran White
Published on June 15, 2013
Since the raid of the Occupy protests early morning on Thursday, Hayes Valley Farm has been well-guarded by dozens of police officers patrolling its perimeter.

The remaining occupiers have fanned out across Hayes Valley, but have primarily been seen in Patricia's Green. Last night at approximately 6:40pm, the activists gathered to decide whether to march in protest of being ousted or try to retake the HVF site as their own. It took a while for the group to reach the consensus that they would indeed march around the police barricade. Here are the events that followed:
6:56 p.m.
The procession of protesters advanced down the Miette Bakery side of Patricia's Green towards Hayes Street, all the while chanting, "Hey, hey! Ho, ho! Get off our farm, and let it grow!"
7:03 p.m.
The crowd veered left at Laguna, only to be greeted by a barricade of police officers blocking access to the street between Oak and Fell.
As the occupiers approached, the cops suited up with riot shields and gloves in preparation for confrontation. Besides some verbal taunting and the blocking of traffic, however, the crowd stayed true to their philosophy of a peaceful protest. Bewildered drivers couldn't do anything but sneer at what was unfolding in front of them.
After more chanting and taunting, the group decided to flock up Oak towards Buchanan. They took a left on Buchanan only to circle back to the other side of the farm on Fell.
7:17 p.m.
When the group reached Octavia, the most explosive clash between the cops and protesters took place.
Cops could be seen sprinting in full riot gear across dunes of dirt to head off the protesters.
It was unclear what exactly provoked the two arrests that we witnessed, but from what we could tell, the horde was trying to shake open the gates of a parking lot next to the farm. One of the protesters got through the gate only to be apprehended by police on the other side.
7:21 p.m.
Emotions were running high after two of their own were arrested, so the crowd spilled out to Oak and Octavia, blocking cars in their wake. Frustrated Hayes Valley residents began rallying on the corner of Octavia parallel to the farm. They kept shouting, "Go home! Go home!"
Eventually, one of the protesters with dreadlocks got on the megaphone and asked if the marchers wanted to go to Market Street. "Sure," a few among the crowd quietly said. It was clear to us at this point that the procession had no real trajectory.
7:34 p.m.
Still very much energized by the events unfolding, the marchers -- sans cops -- weaved in and out of cars along Octavia until they reached Market. Again, cars were blocked in all directions. If you stood in the center of all the commotion like we did, you could visibly see the anger amongst commuters and pedestrians. Even frustrated passengers from a delayed F Market Line heckled the protesters as they walked by.
After approximately 5 minutes of occupying Market and Octavia, a general consensus to lie down in the middle of the road was reached. About half of them actually followed through with the direction. A few minutes elapsed before it was decided that everyone would head back to the farm.
7:50 p.m.
Traffic had all but halted going from Market to Fell, which made the march back to the farm pretty uneventful. When they arrived outside of the chain link fence guarding the adjacent parking lot to HVF, the cops were ready and waiting. For some reason, everyone decided to progress back to Patricia's Green, where they again proceeded to block traffic at the intersection of Fell and Octavia. This was the final stop on this protest train. After a few minutes of occupying yet another intersection, the crowd moved to the sidewalk to let the traffic go by. It was at this point that the public displays of disruption stopped. Slowly but surely, the crowd started thinning till eventually it was just a handful of people. Some went to find shelter close to Hayes Valley and others went to catch a ride to Humboldt County to get training with Earth First!, a radical environmental advocacy group. It might not have been clear exactly which cause united these participants. But while we would love for things to get back to normal in our neighborhood, SF wouldn't be the city we know and love without these bleeding hearts.