Conflicts, Vandalism Mar Otherwise Peaceful March
Occupy protesters enter vacant Cathedral Hill building; windows of Bentley dealership smashed
Altercations with police and acts of vandalism marred an otherwise "extremely peaceful" day of protests in San Francisco Friday, a protester said.
Hundreds of protesters clad in rain gear marched through downtown San Francisco Friday evening, one of several events in a day of action organized by Occupy San Francisco and other allied groups.
The evening march kicked off at Justin Herman Plaza at the foot of Market Street at around 5 p.m.
"It's been extremely peaceful all day," a protester known as Stardust said.
Some protesters got into an altercation with officers in riot gear near Van Ness Avenue and Geary Street shortly after 7 p.m.
Roughly a dozen protesters were pepper sprayed by officers during a confrontation with police, protesters said. Protesters also said some officers used physical force against the protesters.
Shortly after the confrontation, some protesters appeared to break at least one window of a Bentley car dealership on the corner of Van Ness and O'Farrell Street. Other protesters condemned the vandalism.
"[There] should not have been any property destruction," Stardust said. It goes "completely against our action agreement for today and [for] all actions of Occupy SF."
Earlier in the evening, a Wells Fargo ATM and a Bank of America ATM on Golden Gate Avenue, along the march route, were seen with smashed glass.
More than a dozen protesters entered a vacant building — the site of the now-closed Cathedral Hill Hotel — at around 7:45 p.m. Some went to the roof and hung a banner that read, "Liberate the commons." Others climbed on top of a brick facade on the second floor and hung banners. One man, wearing a black hood with a black bandana covering his face, drew an anarchy symbol on the building.
Around 10 p.m., some of the protesters on the roof threw furniture at police, according to Officer Carlos Manfredi, a spokesman for the San Francisco Police Department. Police then took control of the building and asked protesters to leave. Three who refused were arrested for trespassing.
The day began with protesters chaining themselves to the entrances of Wells Fargo Bank's corporate headquarters at 420 Montgomery St. early Friday morning.
Then shortly before 9 a.m., protesters also began blocking a nearby Bank of America branch at 345 Montgomery St.
Multiple blocks of California Street and Montgomery Street were blocked for hours as police in riot gear responded to a group of several hundred demonstrators.
Protesters plastered crime-scene tape on Wells Fargo’s doors and blocked the building’s ATMs with signs that read: “Corporations aren’t people.” The group chanted, “We got sold out!” and, “You owe us!”
In the afternoon, more than 100 people gathered outside a federal courthouse in San Francisco to call for an amendment to the U.S. Constitution to overturn the legal doctrine of corporate personhood.
Police made 22 arrests in connection with Friday's protests. Of those arrests, 21 were made for trespassing on private property, while one was for a protester who allegedly grabbed a police officer's baton, according to police.
Wells Fargo spokesman Ruben Pulido issued a statement Friday defending the bank against the protests.
"We understand that Americans are demanding more from their financial institutions during this economic recovery," Pulido said. "Wells Fargo continues to be a responsible corporate citizen and assists those facing financial hardships."
He said in the past year, less than 2 percent of homeowner-occupied loans in the bank's servicing portfolio have proceeded to foreclosure sale and that Wells Fargo has worked with homeowners to conduct more than 724,000 mortgage modifications since 2009.
Queena Kim and Ryan Jacobs contributed reporting.
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