San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee’s minions attacked Occupy SF on the 70th anniversary of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. Just a coincidence?
In the wee hours of this December 7 just past, over 100 SFPD riot cops invaded Occupy SF, gave the sleeping campers 5 minutes to clear out, arrested 70, supervised the destruction of their belongings in trash crusher trucks, and supervised the obliteration of the suddenly most offensive structures ever to grace the grounds of San Francisco: Tents.
Was it just a coincidence that this happened on the 70th anniversary of the Japanese military’s sneak attack on US military forces in Pearl Harbor?
I decided to mull this over with my old drinking partner, Phineas B. Barnacle.
“What?” he blustered. “How dare you compare the murder of thousands of our troops sleeping in their ship bunks to the rousting of uncooperative protest creeps from the public lands!”
“Our boys in Hawaii had NO warning, while these occupites had…uh, well..5 minutes, hmmm. No, wait, look at this in today’s Examiner: “Police Chief Suhr told the Police Commission ‘They were told they had five minutes, but per the computer-assisted dispatch log, it was actually close to 18 minutes.’ ”
Whoa P, computer assisted my ass! That makes all the difference when you get so rudely awakened at 1:30 in the a.m.
“You’re not making any sense, Mike, as usual. And don’t forget, those Jap bastards came at the break of dawn.”
And those cop bastards came in the dead of night.
“Listen here, in the Ex again. Chief Suhr resorted, ‘We don’t have any reports, at least at this time, of any of the Occupy people being injured.’ So that’s that.
Uh, but I was watching Channel 2 ‘s Wednesday 10, o’clock news, and they reported that one injured man was arrested that night.
“The chief’s talking about that morning, so that doesn’t count, Mike!”
Maybe not, P, but then SF Appeal reported…
“What the hell is that?”
A local online publication.
“You can’t trust those things!”
Agreed, but more than one source reported that Occupier Chris Jones was injured by cops who kept pushing him because they didn’t like a sign he was holding. The SFPD turned away the first medical vehicle that came to help him. SF Appeal reported, “He was lying face down and visibly shaking.”
“Big deal. Did he die from a bomb blast?”
Fortunately no. But it was a half hour he was lying there like that before another emergency vehicle “took him away on a gurney, as the crowd cheered,” SF Appeal reported.
“Them again!”
And it wasn’t by the cops.
“They had plenty of warning! They knew it was coming! They have no one but themselves to blame! They mayor even offered them that old school in the Mission, but they turned him down! They cut off communications with him and the chief!”
Maybe, maybe not. Occupy SF itself reported, also on December 7:
“In choosing to destroy the housing of hundreds of people at the behest of the Building Owners and Managers Association and other corporate business interests, the mayor announced to the city that he has no ideas regarding solutions for the prevalent homelessness, poverty, and public health issues facing so many SF residents. He agrees with his corporate backers-‘out of site, out of mind’ is sound public policy.
“The raid comes at a time when Occupy SF was working on an invitation to the mayor and the chief of police to join us in a public discussion about addressing both the concerns over the conditions at Justin Herman Plaza and the pre-existing socioeconomic issues brought to light by the occupation.
“Contrary to the statements made to the press by the mayor and chief of police, repeated contacts had been made in the several days leading up to the raid by a variety of members of Occupy SF. On Monday morning, 7 members of Occupy SF met with Mohammed Nura, the city’s prime liaison, to express concerns regarding the Mission offer. Occupy SF asked for more time to investigate the site and reach out to the Mission residents who had expressed reservations about the city’s proposed move.”
“You believe that crap!” Phineas railed. “They’ll say anything! They should sent them back to…”
Egypt?
“Huh. Well, they’re nothing but…”
Enemy combatants?
“Whatever.”
I knew what that meant.
Hey P, how about going over to The Saloon for a beer or 7? Remember Pearl Harbor!
“Now you’re talking!”
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