The annual Trans March in San Francisco’s Tenderloin descended into chaos Friday night after marchers clashed with police during a tense arrest, according to video and witness accounts.
The confrontation erupted when officers moved to arrest a person allegedly caught spray-painting a building, witnesses told the San Francisco Chronicle. Dramatic footage shows several officers wrestling a man to the ground as furious marchers surrounded the scene, shouting at police and objecting to the arrest.
“Get off them!” the video recorder is heard screaming alongside others who are also shouting loudly at the police.
One person in the video seemingly tries to intervene before an officer pushes him away, knocking him to the ground.
“The cops dragged them and threw them to the ground, and then protesters got in there trying to stop them,” witness Nora Long told the Chronicle. “From there, the cops responded with more violence.”
That was not the only arrest, witnesses told Mission Local. At least 25 police vehicles were waiting for marchers near the end of the procession before officers sprinted after a number of people who were arrested for vandalism.
In another video, a marcher in a Jesus-like outfit is seen getting on top of a police car and walking on it. Police pull him to the ground and begin restraining him, while marchers angrily surround the cops who try to keep them at bay.
At one point, a group of marchers linked arms to form a wall against the police, witnesses said. Officers pushed back the crowd as chants broke out: “Who keeps us safe? We keep us safe.”
The San Francisco Police Department told The California Post that five adults were busted — three on suspicion of assault and vandalism and two for allegedly interfering with officers.
Police said the suspects’ names and additional charges are being withheld as the investigation remains active.
Two officers who “provided crowd control” during the incident were assaulted and sustained non-life-threatening injuries, the department said.
The Trans March is one of the largest gatherings of transgender people in the world. Some marchers were upset at the police presence.
“It didn’t fit the tone of the march and the occasion. It could be traumatizing for people there – especially when the event is commemorating a protest against police brutality,” marcher Jenna England told the Chronicle.
The police department said in a statement to The Post that while it supports the First Amendment right to peacefully protest, “criminal activity will not be tolerated.”
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