San Francisco’s annual Trans March in the Tenderloin turned turbulent Friday night when a confrontation between marchers and police broke out during an arrest, according to witness accounts and video from the scene.
The clash reportedly began after officers attempted to detain a person accused of spray-painting a building, witnesses told the San Francisco Chronicle. Video from the march shows multiple officers forcing a man to the ground as angry participants gathered around them, yelling and protesting the arrest.
“Get off them!” the person recording the video can be heard shouting, as others nearby also screamed at officers.
At one point in the footage, another person appears to move toward the arrest scene before an officer shoves him back, sending 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.”
Witnesses told Mission Local the incident was not the only arrest of the night. Near the end of the march route, at least 25 police vehicles were reportedly waiting before officers ran after several people who were later arrested on vandalism allegations.
A separate video shows a marcher dressed in a Jesus-like outfit climbing onto a police car and walking across it. Officers then pull the person down and begin restraining him as other marchers crowd around, shouting while police try to hold them back.
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.”
