I Love San Francisco

Though I was born and bred in Boston, I lived in SF for a couple of years after college. While there, I witnessed some incredible protests against the War in Iraq. Seeing those thousands upon thousands of people marching, clogging intersections, and acting out in (mostly) peaceful civil protest showed me why the peace movements of the 60s were sparked in Berkeley. Northern Californians have a grand tradition for that sort of activity, and it was exciting to see it unfold in person.

Yesterday, they were at it again. This time, it was over the Governator holding a $1,000-$100,000 per plate dinner to raise funds for his re-election campaign. The labor groups hoped to rally 5,000 or so protestors at the hotel where the event was to take place. They got just a few more than that. California, Stockton, Grant and Pine Streets were all closed down by the crowd, and there were reportedly more off-duty cops, firemen, and nurses protesting than there were police trying to maintain order.

In the words of Bob Brigham, the professionalism of the protest was "pure West Coast".

Check out the extended account of the event here.