Global Courant 2023-05-24 18:44:12
A protester has been arrested for throwing a brick during San Francisco Mayor London Breed’s chaotic outdoor hearing aimed at cracking down on homeless open-air drug markets.
San Francisco Board of Supervisors Chairman Aaron Peskin had decided to move the mayor’s regular monthly meeting with the board of directors to a corner of City Hall to the United Nations Plaza, which has grown rampant with drug trafficking and stolen goods. good sales.
“We can’t keep talking out of both sides of our mouths,” Breed said in a fiery five-minute speech. “On the one hand we want change and we want to hold people accountable, and on the other hand we are willing to let people get away with murder.”
“We need to make the kind of decisions that allow people to get the help and support they need, but not allow things to go on for far too long,” the mayor said. “It’s time for change.”
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A protester prepares to throw a rock after a rare outdoor meeting of the Board of Supervisors at UN Plaza in San Francisco, May 23, 2023. (AP Photo/Eric Risberg)
Peskin began grilling the mayor over a request he outlined in a letter earlier in the day to establish a multi-agency Emergency Operations Center to coordinate the response and to shut down open-air drug trafficking sites such as those on the square, in the next 90 days to close .
Interruptions and chants of “no more police” from the large crowd were so loud that Peskin moved the meeting back to city hall before the mayor could answer.
At one point, a protester rushed to where city officials were standing and threw a rock. The rock struck a female Galileo High School student and member of the junior ROTC troop who helped raise the US flag at the start of the meeting. Supervisors reportedly had already left UN Plaza.
A suspect is arrested after a rock was thrown at a meeting of the Supervisory Board at UN Plaza in San Francisco, Tuesday, May 23, 2023. (AP Photo/Eric Risberg)
The underage student was not seriously injured and police soon detained the protester on the ground.
San Francisco police later identified the suspect as 26-year-old Elysia Katet, the San Francisco Chronicle and The San Francisco Standard reported.
Online prison records showed Katet was booked on charges of child endangerment and assault with a deadly weapon.
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San Francisco Mayor London Breed speaks at UN Plaza in San Francisco, Tuesday, May 23, 2023. (AP Photo/Eric Risberg)
“The attack on a youth in the Plaza today, when a violent protester threw a rock, is just another tragic example of how we are losing control of our public spaces,” Peskin said in a statement later Tuesday. “If we can’t guarantee everyone’s safety when the mayor and her security team are present, we’ve lost control of our public realm. And that’s our shared mission: to take back control of all our public spaces so they’re safe and always clean for everyone. We simply cannot defend this status quo and we must continue to demand change.”
Peskin, a progressive, has argued that the city already has sufficient resources but lacks coordination.
A protester suspected of throwing a rock at a color ranger is led away by police at UN Plaza in San Francisco on Tuesday, May 23, 2023. (AP Photo/Eric Risberg)
Breed’s emergency management department had earlier in the day confirmed a pilot program to allow state law enforcement to intervene in removing people using drugs who pose a danger to themselves or others from the streets, which liberal critics condemned as a plan to essentially arrest drug users.
“The people who live here, the people who work here and the people who face these challenges every day deserve better,” Breed said, according to the Standard. “Why should someone else’s rights be put before their needs and their safety and whatever they deserve, in a place like San Francisco that claims to be so compassionate and liberal? What about them?”
An activist holds up a sign at UN Plaza in San Francisco, Tuesday, May 23, 2023. (AP Photo/Eric Risberg)
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“I understand that people have a problem with us wanting to be more aggressive with people struggling with drug addiction,” said the mayor, whose sister died of a drug overdose, according to the Chronicle. “I want to make sure that person doesn’t die. How do we do that? Violence will have to be part of it, whether people like it or not… Compassion is killing people.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Danielle Wallace is a reporter for Fox News Digital covering politics, crime, police and more. Story tips can be sent to [email protected] and on Twitter: @danimwallace.
