— By Kevin Montgomery (@kevinmonty) |
Last night was certainly a showdown in Dolores. At 10pm, the cops rolled through the park to kick everyone out, only to immediately head out to 22nd and Capp South Van Ness to deal with an outbreak of gang violence. At 11:30, as Dolores Park neighbor and reader Michael noted, the police came back in greater numbers to finish the job:
The police closed the park at 11:30 with multiple cop cars, sirens, megaphones, etc. A cop-woman was shouting for 20 minutes straight in a plaintive tone. About 300 people stayed to protest, and the cops just kept shining bright lights at them until they left… sad state of affairs. The Sept .1 community meeting should be a fucking hoot…
You know what was more disruptive than the sound of partiers? Sirens and megaphones. Egads.
A quick Twitter search indicates there was also a Rolling Stones sing-a-long during the protest.
Comments (11)
I’m not a hipster, but I was there
You know it was real hot last night, not only the hipsters wanted to be at Dolores Park. It was too hot in the apartments, and everybody wanted to get outside.
My apartment was miserable last night. I wish I’dve thought to go to the park after-hours.
You’d think the police had something better to do on such a bizarre night.
Agreed the police should have been able to observe the heat and respond in a community policing fashion. These stories are why there should be more bike and foot patrols, and less of the things that insulate police from feeling the temperature of the community.
Insane. First they bust lemonade stands by little kids, now they’re busting people for enjoying the rare summer evenings in SF. Come to the community meeting on 9/1, 6:00 at Mission High School cafeteria please! Tell RPD and SFPD what you do and do not want. Don’t let a small group of people speak for the whole community.
It’s heartening to see hipters standing up for something other than a sandwich at Ike’s. Chaining themselves to the palms and self-immolation are also viable options.
Blame the SF Parks department; they called the cops in multiple times. “We can’t control the crowds and need immediate assistance” the SF Parks “ranger” said on her radio. Sometimes I feel bad for the cops, because they’re being told what to do by people who really shouldn’t be in the position of telling them what to do.
I wish the cops would just say, “we don’t see a problem here” when a whiney SF parks person demands police support.
We really need to be protesting the parks department. They’re the clueless blunderers who are causing so much grief for everyone.
Was the crowd loud enough to keep the neighbors awake? I can see that being a valid reason to get everyone to disperse, what with it being near midnight in the middle of the week.
It wasn’t the crowd in Dolores Park that kept people awake on the hottest night of the year, it was the heat, and then the cops!
The people are expected, especially with the heat -
The flashing lights, shouting and sirens? Fail.
KevMo - what gang violence on 22nd and So. Van Ness? are you referring to the hookers getting slapped around El Trebol?