An activist affiliated with the anti-war group Code Pink is facing felony charges for causing damage around Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi’s San Francisco residence during a Feb. 11 demonstration.
The charges include two counts of felony vandalism, according to a complaint filed with San Francisco Superior Court this week.
The activist, Heather Phipps, is accused of damaging Pelosi’s garage door along with city streets and sidewalks outside the Pacific Heights home she shares with her husband, Paul Pelosi. A spokesperson for the Department of Public Works said it incurred $5,648 in cleanup costs, largely involving paint on the sidewalk, roadway and street trees. Phipps is set to be arraigned on March 12.
A second protester, Cynthia Papermaster, is facing a misdemeanor vandalism charge for leaving handprints on Pelosi’s garage but has yet to be arraigned, according to a Code Pink spokesperson.
Code Pink protesters have been a regular fixture outside Pelosi’s home since Israel declared war on Hamas following the Oct. 7 attacks. The group has staged protests demanding a cease-fire in Gaza and posted a video this week of members confronting Pelosi over her positions on providing aid to Israel.
The scenes outside Pelosi’s home have sometimes grown tense.
Last month, Code Pink circulated a video showing Pelosi telling a Code Pink protester, “Go back to China, where your headquarters is.”
Pelosi was referring to a New York Times investigation that revealed extensive ties between Code Pink’s co-founder, Jodie Evans, and groups promoting the agenda of the Chinese Communist Party.
That exchange took place on Oct. 29, coinciding with the one-year anniversary of the attack on Pelosi’s husband, Paul Pelosi, which left him hospitalized with severe injuries. The attacker, David DePape, told investigators he sought to hold Nancy Pelosi hostage.
In a blog post that month, Code Pink said the goal of the October demonstration was to “briefly hold Pelosi hostage” in order to call for a cease-fire in Gaza. A Code Pink spokesperson described the timing as an “unfortunate coincidence” and denied the reported ties to pro-CCP groups.
In a television interview last month, Pelosi told CNN’s Dana Bash that she believed some Gaza protest activity may have ties to Russia, saying “some financing should be investigated.”