Activists decry district attorney over charges in anti-Trump demo

Protesters who blocked Caltrain face criminal charges Wednesday morning

By
Sana Saleem
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Activist block Caltrain to protest President Trump's inaugration on Jan 20th 2017. Photo courtesy: Indy Bay

A group of activists who protested President Trump’s inauguration on January 20, 2017 are now denouncing the District Attorney George Gascon for pressing criminal charges. 

The 11 activists will be arraigned Wednesday, April 5 at 850 Bryant on criminal charges related to civil disobedience on Inauguration Day 2017. They are charged with trespassing on rail property and refusing to disperse at a riot.

Thousands took to the street in San Francisco and Oakland to protest the inauguration ceremony. The “J20 Resisters” took action to point out the tech industry’s complicity with the Trump administration. Among other things, they blocked Caltrain tracks.

Only six of the 11 names have been released so far: Annie Morgan, Kendall Blum, Jay Schref, Wu Li Leung, Molly Jane Hammond and Katherine Schoellenbach. 

“San Francisco District Attorney George Gascon has filed unjust charges against the group, despite global opposition to the inauguration of Donald Trump and the important history of political resistance in the Bay Area,” a statement from supporters reads. 

The statement also criticizes Gascon for neglecting to charge police misconduct:  “District Attorney George Gascon, formerly the chief of the San Francisco Police Department, has chosen to file charges against the group of activists while neglecting to charge any police officers in the numerous egregious civilian murders and attempted murders that have taken place in San Francisco in just the past few years.”

 

The District Attorney’s office has long been criticized for not filing charges against police officers who kill people without justification. 

Ahead of the Wednesday’s arraignment, activists are asking supporters to call and email District Attorney’s office to urge him to drop charges.  

Supporters are expected to gather at the courthouse on Wednesday ahead of the hearing.

We’ve reached out to the District Attorney’s office for comment and will be updating the story. 

 

 

 

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6 COMMENTS

  1. HAHAHA. I GUESS GASCON IS ONE OFFICIAL THE ANTIFAS CAN’T PUSH AROUND. AND BY THE WAY … THE NEXT TIME THEY BLOCK THE CALTRANS … LET IT RUN OVER THEM. PERIOD.

  2. I greatly believe in civil disobedience, including facing the consequences. Many modern protestors are cowardly whiners. Furthermore, do all the protesting you want, but don’t block the freeway or the railroad. Those are federal charges, and the action is meaningless, dangerous, and stupid. Prosecute those who blocked Caltrain. Learn to do civil disobedience right — this isn’t it.

  4. Blocking transit, bridges, and major intersections is a serious matter. Every protestor thinks his or her cause of the moment is indeed momentous; otherwise, we protestors would not go to the trouble to show up. But if we really value this form of civil disobedience — blocking transportation/slowing others’ lives — we must be willing to pay the price with jail terms and fines. Going ahead with these more extreme forms of public protest, yet not being unwilling to face the legal consequences afterwards, is simply childish and irresponsible. Millions of us protested Trump’s inauguration in peaceful and law-abiding ways. This handful of individuals did not think our actions went far enough, so they engaged in more disruptive actions. Fine. But now they should be willing to suffer the consequences for acting on their beliefs.

  5. Frankly I’m surprised they were. You can get away with pretty much anything around here by claiming it’s a protest – shutting down BART, shutting down the Bay Bridge etc…

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