San Francisco riot police blocked several streets in the Mission Wednesday in response to a protest ahead of Vice President Kamala Harris’s arrival at The Chapel for a fundraiser.
Roads around Valencia and 19th streets reopened around 2:45 p.m. after Mission Station police Capt. Thomas Harvey declared the protests “a safe event.”
The protest—which came a day before convicted felon and former president Donald Trump’s scheduled appearance at a fundraising dinner in Pacific Heights—began around noon Wednesday as 150 pro-Palestine activists converged at 19th and Valencia streets with signs, flags and loudspeakers.
“Vice President Harris cannot expect to fundraise and campaign in our backyard without facing residents who’ve been working tirelessly to end this war and defeat fascism at home and abroad,” Lara Kiswani of the Arab Resource and Organizing Center said in a press release.
At 1 p.m., what appeared to be Secret Service agents stood guard outside The Chapel, where Harris was scheduled to appear at the Biden Victory Fund event. An hour later, the vice president’s motorcade arrived escorted by motorcycle cops.
A police officer at the scene said the plan was to move protesters to one block on 19th Street between Lapidge and Valencia streets.
Within an hour of the protest starting, riot officers began pushing demonstrators away from The Chapel and into the intersection at 19th and Valencia streets.
At 1:15 p.m., protesters complied with police orders to move to the south side of the intersection.
“Thanks for cooperating thus far,” one officer said over a loudspeaker. That was met by a chorus of boos from demonstrators.
Valencia Street between 17th and 20th streets remained cordoned off by police for the next few hours.
Protestors brought a large speaker system that effectively drowned out instructions from SFPD.
“Joe Biden and Kamala Harris cannot show face anywhere in this country,” one protestor shouted through the speaker. “If they go to the desert, if they go to the moon, we’re gonna be there chasing them down.”
“SFPD, KKK, IOF, you’re all the same,” protesters chanted in unison as riot cops continued to cordon off the area. The IOF is a pejorative term for the Israel Defense Forces, in which the “O” stands for Occupation.
Riot cops began handing out zip ties to officers around 1:30 p.m. in an apparent readying to detain protesters. No one was arrested or detained, police at the scene said.