mike koozmin/s.f. examiner file photo
Last week, The San Francisco Examiner reported that the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency, which operates Muni, uses funding from federal anti-terrorism grants to pay for fare evasion enforcement, via a group called the Muni Task Force.
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San Francisco, California
A man who was viciously beaten over a year ago by three plainclothes San Francisco Police Department officers for riding his bicycle on the sidewalk is now suing the city and the officers involved, reports Courthouse News Service.
Back on November 15, 2013 around 3:30 p.m., D’Prince “DJ” Williams was riding back to his Valencia Gardens apartment in the Mission District from the ‘Batkid’ event when he was accosted by three plainclothes SFPD policemen for apparently riding his bicycle on the sidewalk. At that point, Williams had already entered his home. The ensuing melee turned ugly and escalated, leading to neighbors and even more police officers joining in on the fray. The officers named in the suit are Gregory Skaug, Milen Banegas and Theodore Polovina, and the complaint alleges none of them identified themselves as policemen to Williams. Continue reading
Today Friday, SFPD revealed to media outlets the names of the officers responsible for killing Alex Nieto. The four officers who killed Alex Nieto are
Sgt. Jason Sawyer
Officer Roger Morse
Officer Richard Schiff, and
Officer Nathan Chew.
The release of the officers’ names is a victory achieved through nine months of constant community pressure for transparency and accountability in the police killing of Alex Nieto, backed by solid legal action. By order of a federal court judge, the names of these four officers and two other officers present during the shooting were going to be made public on Monday January 5th, 2015. (On Monday we’ll learn the names of the other two officers who were present at the shooting of Alex Nieto, but who did not discharge their weapons.)
From Adriana Camarena
Posted in Justice 4 Alex Nieto, killed by SFPD
Photo: @violentfanon – FTP march, xmas day
Dear supporters, so it comes as no surprise that one of the officers involved Lt. Sawyer, promoted after killing Alex, had already been involved in another questionable killing alongside none other than Furminger. (Furminger was convicted on federal felony charges last month. Furminger is also one of the killers of La Mesha Irizarry‘s son- Idriss Stelley) The backgrounds of these officers must be publicly scrutinized.
“Lt. Jason Sawyer and officers Roger Morse, Richard Schiff and Nathan Chew were involved in the fatal shooting of Alejandro Nieto, 28, on Bernal Hill on March 21, police said.
Officer Mike Lewelling teaching 2 yr old how to use a 50 cal Machine Gun.
San Francisco sheriff’s deputy Michael Lewelling, 33, was arrested Friday for beating and choking a helpless patient in the emergency room at San Francisco General Hospital back in early November. According to prosecutors and video obtained of the attack Lewelling approached his victim for being asleep in the ER waiting room at 5am for an appointment and began roughing up the patient once he tried to get up and walk away from the officer.
Lewelling began to choke and hit the patient and knocked away the defenseless man’s walking cane. After Lewelling was done beating his victim he proceeded to arrest the man with trumped up felony charges, claiming the defenseless man had assaulted him with his cane.
Lewelling was charged with 3 felonies: perjury, filing a false police report, filing a false instrument and assault under the color of authority — as well as misdemeanor battery.
District Attorney George Gascon said “The fact that a sheriff’s deputy allegedly battered a patient at San Francisco General Hospital is unnerving,” “What’s worse is that he’s also alleged to have perjured himself on a police report, unforgivable conduct that led to the arrest of the innocent victim.” – This is the DA’s position… That beating a defenseless man asleep in a ER waiting room is “unnerving” but whats worse it that he lied about it…
From Tom Goulding
San Francisco, California
An anti-Black Friday protest marched through San Francisco on Friday night, leading to a number of arrests and smashed store fronts throughout the Mission District.
The march combined protestors from a wide range of causes, such as anti-police brutality, Ferguson and Ayotzinapa, and begun at Embarcadero at around 5p.m..
The protestors walked peacefully down Market Street, and after police blocked their entrance to One Bush Plaza, there were some minor skirmishes and a few arrests. The march continued towards the Mission District, going peacefully for nearly an hour throughout the Mission.
The police then forcibly split the crowd into separate groups at around 9p.m., and started making a large number of arrests at Valencia and 23rd, the majority of which were of seemingly peaceful protestors. There was then several spates of vandalism of Mission store fronts, mainly of large corporations’ windows and doors.
Black Friday Protests in SF from Tom Goulding on Vimeo.
San Francisco, California
Videos From Tom Vee
On July 20th 2014 an estimated 6,000 Bay Area residents mainly from the Palestinian and Arab communities hit the streets against the ongoing atrocities being committed by the Zionist entity against the people of Palestine. As of this writing over 560 Palestinians have been murdered. The resistance has killed an approx. 25 Israeli Occupation Forces. InshAllah that number will continue to rise.
July 20th is also the birth date of Frantz Fanon, psychologist and leading intellectual/theorist on Decolonization. The following video shows
“When we revolt it’s not for a particular culture. We revolt simply because, for many reasons, we can no longer breathe”
― Frantz Fanon
images from the demonstration in San Francisco with audio of a speech given by Dr. Hatem Bazian, senior lecturer in the Departments of Near
Eastern and Ethnic Studies at the University of California, Berkeley, talking about the deep rooted connection between todays struggle against Zionism and colonialism to that of our ancestors who fought decolonial struggles before us: Continue reading
Photo by Kristian Davis Bailey
On Saturday, a youth-led demo in the Bay Area took over Market Street in outrage at Israel’s “Operation Defensive Edge”–the recent brutal bombing campaign against occupied Palestine, which has seen over 170 and counting (according to media, which always under-reports) of our brothers and sisters brutally murdered. [Read background here.]
As demonstrators rallied in a San Francisco plaza near the Civic Center on Saturday, Israel began a ground invasion. See videos and photos gathered from demonstrators. The first video features a speech by Dr. Hatem Bazian, co-founder and Chair of American Muslims for Palestine. The slideshow is a photo collection from different protestors present on Saturday.
From Jannah Media Productions
From various protestors:
Syrian refugees flooding into Northern Iraq ( A 2003 Reversal )
San Francisco / Oakland Bay Area
From Bay Area Resistance Network
The Bay Area Resistance Network was initiated by those who are affected by colonialism, displacement and militarism who want to confront the forces of imperialism and fight back. Our communities refuse to assimilate and accept the conditions that continue to oppress us, and we sincerely hope to build and strengthen our bonds and struggle together in the face of global injustice.
Decolonization as a means to liberation can be successful through unity along principles of self determination and through the support of strategic allies who understand their role in our struggle. Continue reading
bayareaintifada 