SAN FRANCISCO (CBS SF) — A huge crowd gathered near Mission High School in San Francisco Wednesday afternoon for one of the Bay Area’s biggest George Floyd protests yet.
The gathering of what appeared to be thousands of protesters filled part of Mission Dolores Park and spilled across multiple city blocks around Mission High on 18th Street.
Mission Dolores Park filled with George Floyd protesters (CBS)
The massive crowd protesting the death of George Floyd and calling for an end to police brutality gathered hours after a bombshell development that found all four officers involved in the violent arrest now facing charges.
The demonstration was organized by the group Nopeacenojustice San Francisco, is part of nationwide protests over Floyd’s death and began at 4 p.m. on 18th Street, just outside the high school.
San Francisco police were estimating the crowd to be about 10,000 as of 5 p.m.
The protesters are set to march to the Mission Police Station at 17th
and Valencia streets, according to organizers. 17th Street was closed to vehicle traffic between Valencia and Guerrero streets in anticipation.
The SF Department of Emergency Management tweeted that SF Muni was rerouting service around the area of the protest in the Mission District.
ALERTSF: MUNI is rerouting services around the Mission District Neighborhood due to transit disruptions.
Expect delays and use alternate routes. Check https://t.co/KhHeZty2yc for realtime traffic and transit updates.
https://t.co/9TyggvLiNQ— San Francisco DEM (@SF_emergency) June 3, 2020
The protesters began to move down Dolores Street towards 17th Street at around 5:15 p.m. and soon filled the area around the police station.
Crowd stretched as far as the eye can see on Valencia now @KPIXtv pic.twitter.com/9dZcPybYn6
— Andria Borba (@AndriaKPIX) June 4, 2020
At one point, the crowd by the police station roared it’s approval when a line of officers took a knee on the Valencia Street sidewalk.
Several SFPD officers taking a knee in front of Mission Substation with a big roar of support from the 10k+ crowd @KPIXtv pic.twitter.com/hJ4BZEM2fR
— Andria Borba (@AndriaKPIX) June 4, 2020
While a large crowd stayed at 17th and Valencia, with many also taking a knee, another group marched on, heading down 16th Street reportedly with the destination of the Hall of Justice at 8th Street and Bryant.
Earlier Wednesday, businesses in the Mission were quickly working to board up their stores anticipating what could be a long night, leaving area residents on edge.
“There’s a lot of small businesses here. There are people here that can’t afford to have things torn up,” said area resident Paulette Otten. “They’re not gonna be able to open up again if you tear up their stuff or steal their stuff.”
As store owners secured up their shops, the young people who organized the protest got ready in a different way.
“The Mission has already been so heavily affected by our city that sold it out to gentrification and we’re not gonna make any more disruption here,” said protest organizer Simone Jacque.
“Doing what I can to end systemic racism in this country. Think everyone should be doing what they can to help out,” said a protester who gave his name as Sam.
On Valencia Street, more stores down the street from the Mission District Police Station were boarding up windows in advance of the protest.
Neighbors say they understand and support the ongoing demonstrations.
“I think that people are upset about the way that policing has been conducted. Police need to be servants of the people rather than the militarized way they’ve increasingly become,” said a San Francisco resident who gave his name as Tom.
At the Mission Station, barricades were up and lashed together right on the edge of the curb in anticipation of the protest.
A KPIX 5 camera captured one of multiple vans loaded with police officers and sheriff’s deputies arriving at the back parking lot of the station.
Andria Borba and Kenny Choi contributed to this report.
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