The arrest of two suspects during San Francisco’s Trans March led to police clashing with marchers who were trying to free the suspects, according to police.
The two suspects were arrested, three marchers were arrested, and two of the police officers were injured while trying to deal with the crowd.
‘People were dancing, children were running around. It was just joyful. And suddenly the police came running. Some of them had their guns drawn, batons out.’
Police said the two were seen vandalizing property with spray paint and that one suspect had assaulted and spray-painted another marcher. When they attempted to arrest the suspects, marchers surrounded them and obstructed the officers in an attempt to free the suspects.
A woman who witnessed the melee Friday told KRON-TV that the police should have let the suspects go rather than fight back against the marchers.
“I’m crying because it was just so shocking to see such a peaceful, beautiful event just be basically run over by police out of nowhere over somebody spray-painting,” said the woman, who wanted to be known by the name Missy.
She said she went to the march with her transgender-identifying child before the police ruined it.
“People were dancing, children were running around. It was just joyful. And suddenly the police came running. Some of them had their guns drawn, batons out,” she added.
Two people were arrested on suspicion of obstruction of police, and three were arrested for alleged vandalism and assault.
“I get that in large crowds police have a heightened sense of awareness and reaction and all of that, but the guy was spray-painting. I just don’t feel it was necessary,” the woman added.
The San Francisco Police Dept. released a statement about the incident:
The SFPD always respects individuals’ First Amendment rights to protest; however, criminal activity will not be tolerated in San Francisco. Additionally, the SFPD is unwavering in its support for the LGBTQ+ community and will continue to protect and serve every community in San Francisco.
One livestreamer recorded himself screaming at police officers and demanding to know why they would arrest transgender-identifying people in the transgender district.
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Missy was upset that the police tried to arrest people committing crimes instead of standing by transgender-identifying marchers.
“We don’t need our police officers being unpredictable,” she added. “We need them to stand side by side with us.”
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