Twenty seems to be the magic number for the SFPD this week. The cops arrested another 20 protesters last night after the group reportedly put on black masks and broke into a house in the Castro.
According to news reports, the group gathered before 6 p.m. in Dolores Park, where they listened to music for a bit before marching down to 535 Castro and making their way into a vacant house. The whole point was to draw attention to homelessness.
When the cops showed up (in riot gear, from what we hear), the shouting and chanting ensued. You could heard phrases such as "Homes not Jails."
See also: Impromptu Demonstration Gets Out of Hand; Police Blame Protesters, Protesters Blame Police
Police stood across the street from the house until about 6:50 p.m., when they stormed in and hauled 20 protesters off to jail. At least one woman hurt her ankle while running from police, according to the Chron.
SFist was at the scene at about 8 p.m. and reports seeing a "gaggle of protesters" milling around the Castro, including a few who appeared to be homeless people. Traffic was blocked and businesses were irritated, but probably not as irritated as the protester who was spotted in Walgreens with blood on the back of
his head, shopping for bandages, SFist reports.
Also, we really enjoyed this Tweet exchange between protester and SFist editor, Brock Keeling.
