Reader Steve wrote in with some pics and an explanation:
Hey, I’m sure you guys are aware of the black-bloc-looking Occupy-related (?) march that just ransacked Valencia.
Here are some shitty cell-phone photos of the immediate aftermath just in case.
Other notable casualties: SUV at 18th & Valencia smashed and maybe lightly smoking?, smashed and painted police station doors, most stores and restaurants with some yellow paint and broken glass.
Police weren’t with it at all. One cop got out of his car and literally just sort of yelled “HEY” at them at 18th & Guerrero as they were just getting started, then went and called it in. By the time the police were riot-geared up and locking down their station, the mob had moved on up Valencia.
UPDATE: I’m pretty sure this was not in fact Occupy-related. More on the origins of the demonstration here.
 march that just ransacked Valencia. Here are some shitty cell-phone photos of the immediate aftermath just in case. Other notable casualties: SUV at 18th & Valencia smashed and maybe lightly smoking?, smashed and […]</p>
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I don’t know if I can muster much sympathy for an inconvenienced Bentley-owner, but, by-and-large, this sort of action is fucking retarded and very, very counter-productive. Way to make yourselves look terrible.
The Chronicle is going to have a field day over this, it’s CW Nevius’s wet goddamn dream.
Yup… though this probably wasn’t done by anyone really related to Occupy. Far more likely it was the work of agent provocateurs… otherwise, why would the cops be so hands-off tonight when they’ve been so hot to bust heads anytime anyone’s waved a sign in the past six months?
Coincidentally, five envelopes of corn starch were sent to NYC banks today, and the media had a similar field day. But where’s the article about DHS’s confirmed role in trying to undermine Occupy, eh?
Yeah, I don’t buy it. Incompetence is always going to be more likely than conspiracy. Occam’s Razor.
agent provocateurs? please just admit all Occupy folks don’t want to sit in a park. some of them wanted to go out and f stuff up in direct actions. there have always been these strains in black scarf wearing crowd. and it looks like they are, and looking a bit ridiculous in the process.
It’s an Aston Martin, but I don’t see why they don’t deserve sympathy for their car being vandalized? It could easily have been their pride and joy and that’s it vandalized for no reason.
You’re right, it might be their pride and joy, but it’s a car worth what the average american makes over 7 years.
Aston martin BD9: $189,915 – $203,015.
U.S. Median Annual Wage: $26,364.
i can see why someone might think that’s a little unfair.
Little unfair on who? Who exactly is it unfair on that someone was able to afford that car? The only unfair thing here is someone vandalising this person’s car when they have done absolutely nothing to deserve it from what the article tells us, it was just a random act on someone’s car.
As someone who works hard in life to make a living I would be devastated to find my apartment ransacked because it was a particularly nice part of San Francisco then someone like you claim it’s unfair I get to live there. It was me who earnt the money in order to get the apartment in the first place, it is not my fault you may not have the same financial situation as me (not saying you’re any less off than me, just using it as an example).
This is the wrong forum for a conversation about this, Awfy. Working hard/doing well == bad.
Firstly, if a stamped-out consumer object is your pride and joy, then you aren’t very creative. If your art, family, community, etc is your pride and joy, then i have more respect for you.
Secondly, as a sweeping generalization, rich folks don’t get rich by giving their money away, or even sharing their wealth. As such, the chance of this Aston Martin owner sharing his financial success with his community is pretty low. Of course there are exceptions, but few of them. This also makes me respect the owner less.
Thirdly, there is a long history of wealthy people taking advantage of those socially and economically less well off. When this person earns money, it comes from somewhere. They don’t generate this wealth from thin air, they are taking it, usually through complicated routes, from other people. Money circulates. The people this money came from may not have had any choice in making this Aston Martin owner rich (think medical insurance, pork-barrel taxes, private water, food monopolies). There are systems in which people cannot avoid making the rich richer. Should i applaud this?
While these are all assumptions (what more can we make knowing nothing about this person, other than is directly evident from the picture), you too are making assumptions. The most important of which is that this person believed in the american dream, tried hard, was successful, and EARNED their money. There are plenty of rich kids who have never worked a day in their lives. There are plenty of rich folks who have broken laws, and gravely mistreated others for their wealth.
Rather than spend this $200,000 on something only yourself can enjoy, how about spend it on a school in your neighborhood, your favorite park, or a donation to a responsible environmental group.
+1
I am A-OK with rich people’s stuff getting wrecked.
Get the fuck out of my city and go home, you know you don’t belong here, you privileged fucks.
BTW, ‘privilege’ means destroying communities you don’t belong to, and running away before you can be held to account. Welcome to the 1% dipshits.
Did you intend irony when suggesting that privileged people should get out of… San Francisco?
Also, this wasn’t Occupy folks… probably people on the payroll of DHS. Look up Montreal agents provocateur…
Oh please, give me a break. I can’t speak to the people who live in Noe Valley and Pacific Heights but I’ll tell you I worked long and hard for this privilege of living in SF (and still do… paying rent here is like passing a gallstone). Ask my daddy who lives in a single-wide, he’ll tell you plenty about how I got here.
But I am NOT going to have little bratty hooligans clouding our message. Period.
I know they’re not Occupy folks, if they’re not bankrolled by our governments they’re surely just a bunch of spoiled brats with a vendetta against authority.
Amen.
These trust-a-farian MFs need to get the F out of our town before the locals break out the pitchforks and drive them in to the bay.
Losers!
LF
what kind of animal hurts a Bentley
Pretty sure that’s an Aston Martin.
Cointelpro!
Smh
Fuck you idiots. Honestly, what was the point of fucking up my neighborhood when most everyone in the area is sympathetic to many of your views? OK, maybe not the anarchy crap but really. Assholes…..
Look up: “agent provocateur”
*That’s* the point.
masked lily-livered, phony-baloney revolutionaries, destroy personal property on Valencia street.
Wrong answer to the wrong question.
Come try and spray paint my van and you will learn about “occupy my fist”
“Wrong answer to the wrong question.”
Best comment on this whole thread.
++
like they don’t ever upgrade from a shitty bicycle to a nice fixie.
these idiots are consumers just like the rest of us.
they have computers, fancy bikes, fancy bike bags…. fancy sweatshirts and fancy bandanas.
show the pictures of the latino dude who was working in a building on Valencia and they painted his work truck with pink paint and a big A …
yeah, he deserved that….
Or the other reader who said many members of the Gay Men’s Chorus who was practicing had their cars vandalized.
Yeah, smashing art galleries and vandalizing musicians’ cars really sends a message. . . that you are a complete and total douchebag and we should bring back pillories just for you.
anymouse you are full of shit… stop believing what someone told you and learn to think for yourself.
Yeah, no shit. The vandalism looks like a graphic artist did it. The cops are not doing this to infiltrate the seedy underbelly of a movement with no leadership or objective.
These parents vs. the world turf wars in Dolores Park have really gotten out of control.
Anymouse, we’re all proud that you’ve learned a phrase, but even a cursory study of government intervention throughout history proves time and time again that conspiracy is far more costly, risky, and counter-productive than situation management. The lack of coherence and a universal voice for Occupy has filtered the movement down to be too inclusive – protesters out there trying to curb corporations, wealth, government, politics, inequality, and anything else they fear – but the problem is they’re now speaking to no one in particular. Who is supposed to listen when you have mixed messages and all you’re doing is costing us money?
Frankly, I’m sick to death of it all. Get on with your lives, smile and stop being so god damn hypocritical with your corporate signs made of corporate wood in corporate shoes on your corporate bike. Accountability’s one thing…but demands for false suffering is an embarrassment (because there is real suffering out there). And maybe I’m a cog in the wheel, but I also give thousands every year to liberal charities – That’s food in mouths, water in villages and support for rationality. Have some optimism and fight for it http://bit.ly/x7peWD
For the record, there’s at least one segment of “Occupy will not be stopped” chants in this video of this: http://youtu.be/0jCR581MyaI?t=5m36s (not my video)
Obviously not the typical Occupy non-violent crowd, megaphone guy probably just ran out of stuff to say, co-opting group of rogues, etc etc.
wow great vid… they got that art gallery good…..
Black-Bloc are fakers. If they were the real deal they’d take it out on the Chevron building or Monsanto. Anarchists my ass.
If they were for real they’d go back to Fresno, Iowa, Ohio and all the other lame-ass places they come from.
Maybe they’ll understand the language of “foot up ass”
Too bad that is not James Bond’s Aston Martin. The street would be covered with the charred bodies of the vandals.
In South Africa, it is legal to install anti-theft/carjacking systems that will burn anyone who approaches the car to a crisp. I wonder if it is time to start legalizing driver’s side flame throwers here?
Blah blah blah. Whatever you say, Internet ToughGuy(tm).
Go do some reading on Katko v. Briney and then come back and defend that position again.
Occupy SF’s declaration explicitly outlines the principle of nonviolence.
http://occupysf.org/declaration/
Just as we can’t stop people or dogs from peeing & pooping in the mission or anywhere, how on earth can we expect Occupy to stop a few egoistic, self-centered, attention seeking spoiled brags from vandalizing things base on their own unique political/tactical reasoning?
By electing effective, non-anonymous people to lead the organization and help persuade outliers who claim membership into constructive rather than destructive action; By encouraging those leaders to engage local media and elected officials and offering to help track down the perpetrators; By taking internal action to reinforce the organization’s stated principles of non-violence; By eschewing inflammatory rhetoric and encouraging peaceful dialogue… I’m sure people smarter than me could come up with many more suggestions. This isn’t rocket science.
stop them with a 2×4 upside their head?
Welcome to the new Mission.
One of the lessons people learn as they mature is that you can’t have it both ways.
“Like why would anyone want to scratch my car and trash my favorite Valencia St. bistro? I’M not a yuppie, I’m cool!”
I don’t support vandalism or silly demonstrations at all. It’s surprising (or not) that these people would choose the Mission as the target of their anti-yuppie rage. 15 years ago the Mission would have been the last neighborhood that wannabe anarchists targeted.
Neighborhoods change.
Notice how the badge-and-gun-wearing thugs are all dressed in black, just like Nazi stormtroopers.
Oh, and this is NOT occupy-related. Now go back to listening to your buddy Rush Limbaugh and stop posting disinformation.
And it is usually to do so by presuming far too much knowledge, that will put far excessive confidence within our direct
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