If somebody linked to here directly, you might want to go back to the start.
We're just hitting the edge of Chinatown, and we get anti-China protests (from the residents - many of them left for a reason).
And then through Chinatown proper.
This was an anon that got converted. They kept their masks on (they're afraid of being followed by Scientologists and filmed taking their masks off - sometimes you'll see these guys on public transportation wearing masks and it's a bit creepy).
Homeless zombie.
The cable cars got lots of attention.
This kind of scene is because they're waiting for a green light and their zombie brothers are on the other side. We started to get a bit fragmented around here, especially since it was the end of the official route but folks kept going.
Welcome to San Francisco!
As far as the eye can see, and I'm in the middle, not the front.
Another protest sign twist. Which reminds me - at one point we had one guy come up and ask what we represented. "Zombies!" And what were our goals? "Brains!" He turned around in disgust and somebody shouted after him "Do you have any?" I actually heard one conversation about how nice it was to go out and march around without some political nonsense attached to it. Probably 75% of the folks at a typical protest are doing it purely as a social thing and some folks appreciated the lack of pretense. For one thing, you don't have to be discouraged when your protest doesn't actually accomplish anything.
Actually for a protest this was wildly successful.
- Turnout that beats most actual protests.
- Twitter followers twenty times larger than the save the oaks followers.
- Raised awareness.
- Massive honking, support from surrounding crowds.
- Good interactions with police which helps with future protests.
- Asserted rights to freedom of speech, freedom to assemble.
- Did it without permits.
And this despite bad weather and 30 minute subway delays. It's pretty ironic that just a group of folks having fun can outdo the protesters with actual organizations and meetings and decades of experience and, oh, an actual cause.
We ended up in Union Square (you can see some musicians in the video - more partying) and then down Powell, hassling cable cars, to Market. At this point I was out of juice and memory - both me and the camera - and the subway was right there so I, along with many others, decided we were done. You can see here folks are kind of falling out of character and just walking along.
However, at least some groups split off for the next couple of hours. I know at least some invaded the Apple Store which is a bit traditional at this point, and some visited some local pubs. I spent about an hour and a half with the mob, but there were at least some zombies running around four or five hours after that.
Good times. Check out the video!
If you can't see the video, or you want to see it in higher quality, here's the direct link.
If you're wondering who organized this - it's a zombie mob, how organized can it be? But you might want to look here.
You can contact me at info (at) ProtestShooter.com
