The OB Mainstreet Association has been asked by the San Diego Police Department to cancel the Farmers Market scheduled for today, Wednesday, June 3.
Here is what we found on a facebook page:
No one knows anything about the protests. Don’t know who’s is planning it. Don’t know if it will even happen. But after all this hard word to reopen the market, now this.
This is not a good sign, not a good decision. What’s happening is that dissent, protest is being criminalized in the eyes of small business people and community people. By far most George Floyd demonstrations have been peaceful. This just feeds into the narrative of focusing on the negative aspects and not the real issues.
BTW, there’s been plenty of protests at Farmers Market in OB over the years. I was at a couple of them.
You can’t fault the OBMA; they’re reacting in the “abundance of caution” – and pressure from the Police Department.
This is not a good sign to bend to police demands like this. We’re watching democracy in action on the streets of San Diego and across the country. For the SDPD to apply a level of coercion on our local business group and they fell like they’re forced to close a market that has been weeks in the making and has been closed down for months due to the pandemic, is feeding to a type of paranoia, hysteria and a criminalization of protesters and the issues they – we are demonstrating about.
{ 24 comments… read them below or add one }
I wonder if this is why local liquor stores have boarded up their windows. I noticed today that Litikers, Newport Farms and Pat’s Liquor have covered their windows with plywood, although they do remain open.
Looks to me as if the police are using scare tactics to make it look like protesters are monsters; give me a break!
They should be more scared about what their president is doing.
Exactly Frank. I’m not scared of the protestors, I’m scared of BunkerBoy!
The OB Rag thoroughly condemns this move to cancel and this pressure by SDPD to close it up on the basis of “rumors” which no one knows who’s is planning it or where it is. This criminalizes dissent. By far most of these George Floyd protests have been entirely peaceful. My daughter went to one yesterday in downtown. These are scare tactics being used by police higher-ups to make small businesspeople frightened of protests – and the people who come to them. They’re your freaking youth of America.
I was wondering how the protesters would be received in OB. These comments make me very proud to live here.
As the managers of the Ocean Beach Certified Farmers Market, let me clarify an incorrect assumption, which appears to be the basis of your short article regarding the delay of the re-opening. The San Diego Police Department did not instruct the OBMA to close the market. There was no pressure. There was credible information provided regarding a protest planned for this evening, and OBMA determined it was in the best interest of the community, market vendors and employees to re-schedule the opening to next week June 10, 2020. We hope to see the OB community next week.
So, what happened?
So? Any word? Any sign of a protest?
It seems pretty quiet and it’s almost 7pm. I wonder if the police were responding to a permit request for a planned event or just an anonymous tip???
Protest happened. Marched from OB to the Bird Rock on Sunset Cliffs and back. Peaceful the whole way from what I saw (left it at 10:15). Around 200 people.
There was a protest. A peaceful one from what I could see.
The organizers are charged with helping businesses which was the decision they made.
Perhaps the organizers of the market shouldn’t have that priority:), but it does make sense under their circumstances.
So yeah, there was a demonstration – on Midway , miles from Newport, where police bent a knee with protesters, and the crowd actually chanted, “SDPD! SDPD!” in a positive expression. So much for the hysteria and fear-mongering.
Video I saw actually had police officers leading the march down Midway Ave. The officers really must be secret agents of Antifa and they were dragging a pile of bricks with them.
I’m actually ashamed of my community today for giving in to fear of protesrters. Modern OB was born in protest and the managers of the market should be embarrassed.
The OB Rag received some very hateful comments that we did not post; one called for a race war by “Allan Weiss” at wp@outlook……con and another called George Floyd a thug by “brian brougham” at brianbrougham55@gmail…..com
The white nationalists are definitely trying to make themselves known, but you know what, they are totally out-numbered by the combined diversity of those protesting for genuine issues.
I live close to Sunset Cliffs and while I didn’t see the protest I could hear it. I heard people chanting and didn’t see any property damage or violence overflow into the neighborhood; in a word PEACEFUL.
I walked down Newport this morning, expecting to at least see an increase in trash. No signs of any vandalism at all, all these businesses closed early and boarded up their windows for no reason. Even the streets were clean and the only people out in force were surfers.
I ran into some friends last night who had come down from Point Loma to peacefully protest but even they didn’t know who was organizing the march. For a few hours people were just milling about with the regular Wednesday drum circle going on in the background. The most disruptive thing that happened last night was a helicopter circling for 20 minutes around 8:30pm.
That chopper stayed around for some time and I had to wonder why. The protest group was small and peaceful, Newport Ave. was calm, the drummers at the park were doing their usual thing. It seemed like a waste of money and an unnecessary display of police presence. I’d like to see a study about how useful that chopper really is and how expensive it is.
Agreed, the helicopter was louder than the drums and the chants and they were flying so low that the walls were vibrating. There were also at least 5-10 cop cars in the closed lifeguard parking lot that mobilized after the protest had already passed by.
Definitely an unnecessary use of resources and cause of distruption to an otherwise peaceful night in OB.
So the Squeakers knelt with the protesters. DON’T BE FOOLED! They have done that in many cities and then have proceeded to beat and abuse peaceful protesters minutes later. In some places, they actually used this a tactic to draw protesters closer before they attacked.
San Diego now has National Guard deployed to “assist” them to control protests. Don’t be fooled, they are not your friends.
I caught the protest last night while running down by the beach about 8:00. They were marching on Abbott between Newport and Santa Monica and did not fill half the block. I think the estimate above at 200 was too high for what I saw, maybe 100 at most. The crowd cheering them on was bigger. Newport was normal. I saw one police car and the ever present chopper but no sirens. Looked like the fear-mongering was all bluster.
I have lived in OB for more than 30 years. Me and my family marched and it was such a great moment for our town. Totally peaceful from about sundown until around 10:30 marching down the cliffs when we cut out. The group went around town on the streets with total support from the cops for at least two hours. How beautiful it was to march with thoughtful and open hearted OBecians under the giant moon to support obviously needed changes in the police’s use of force and targeting of minorities. We joined the drum circle a couple of times. I was actually surprised more OB folk didn’t join. This is the real controversy, not the market closing. I would say about a quarter to a third of the shops were boarded up, some noted they were a minority owned business, and some had their vigilante-paid security on guard. Others had all the owners and friends lined across the front of their shops, many chanting and raising their fists in support, a few handing out drinks.
The protest last night was 100% peaceful. As we passed patrol cars parked on Abbot, some of the police officers flashed peace signs to us. From my vantage point, cops were respectful and relatively peripheral. The leaders of the protest were very organized and inspiring, giving a number of goosebumps-inducing speeches at various stops. Like Eric, I wish more of the OB community would have joined us, but it was assuring to see so many allies cheering us on from their balconies, cars, and alleyways. The folks at BBQ House Bar & Grill provided free water for protestors and chanted with us. A few people at The Joint also shouted along.
Does anyone know who actually organized the protest or if it was just caused by the SDPD saying that a protest was happening? A lot of people left because there was no clear leadership or organization on when or where a march would start. I’m guessing that the confusion probably led to a smaller turnout.
As long as I could hear the drums going I knew the movement was peaceful. Personally I’m excited to join the Paddle Out planned for Sunday at 9am!