EXCLUSIVE: Melee, Dancing At San Francisco City Hall

James Burch gets slammed by a San Francisco deputy sheriff, after protestors stormed throu
AP Photo/Joel Angel Juarez
Lee Stranahan

SAN FRANCISO–A group of protesters calling themselves the “Frisco 5” are demanding the firing of Police Chief Greg Suhr over what they refer to as police violence, racist text messages and the shooting death of a man by police last year.

On Friday, they clashed with police at San Francisco city hall.

https://twitter.com/ShaunKing/status/728709501206077440

Other social media captured the confrontation inside City Hall that led to an estimated 25 people being arrested.

Breitbart News was on the scene and captured footage of one of the protesters taunting minority police officers and referring to them as “Uncle Toms” for their work upholding the law.

After the melee with police officers, a number of protesters spent time dancing on sidewalk while dozens of officers stood guard over city hall.

The protest come after tensions were increased due to the release of text messages by the Associated Press in April. As the AP reported:

Flanked by religious and minority community leaders at a San Francisco press conference, Chief Greg Suhr also released more transcripts of racist and homophobic text messages first made available to The Associated Press along with inflammatory and inappropriate images found on former officers’ cellphones.

It’s the second texting scandal since 2014 in a department that is attempting to diversify its officers to reflect the San Francisco culture and population. The department of 2,100 was led by an Asian-American woman and a black man before Suhr took over five years ago.

About half the officers are white, roughly reflecting the white population in San Francisco. Asians make up a third of the city population, but account for about 16 percent of the officers. Close to 9 percent of its officers are black, exceeding a city population of 6 percent,

Suhr says he has no plans to resign and Mayor Ed Lee says he supports the chief.

CNN did a report on the text messages recently, which included derogatory terms for black and Mexican Americans. Protesters are also upset about a police shooting last year that killed a suspect.

https://youtu.be/WIVRxp0WtaY

The Washington Post adds some detail:

Lai, a six-year veteran on the force, appeared to have made derogatory comments about numerous ethnic groups as well as gay police officers, according to CNN. “Passive aggressive 528,” he reportedly wrote, using the code for a fire call to insinuate that gay officers are “flames or flaming,” a source told the network.

Lai purportedly talked about an incident when a “bunch of hock (sic) gwais shooting each other.” The Cantonese phrase “hak gwai” is a term for African Americans.

“Sprained my ankle over these barbarians,” Lai wrote, according to CNN, adding that one suspect was rushed to a hospital with a gunshot wound. “Too bad none of them died. … One less to worry about.”

The latest protest comes after two weeks of disruptions. A group of five wheelchair-bound hunger strikers referred to as the “Frisco Five” have been one of the focal points for the protests. They have been camped out in tents near San Francisco’s Mission Station.

On May 2, the hunger strikers attempted to get a meeting with San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee to call for the firing of the police chief. After being blessed with holy water by a Franciscan Friar, the group led hundreds of protesters in a march. After that attempt failed, the group confronted legislators and forced the shutdown of a city meeting.

The “Frisco Five” hunger-strikers were hospitalized Friday for malnourishment.

Follow Breitbart News lead investigative reporter Lee Stranahan on Twitter at @Stranahan. and sign up for a free course Citizen Journalism School. 

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