S.F. farmers market protest Sun. 5/9: vendor assaults me and commits perjury, police illegally interfere with our rights.

May 7, 2010

Animal Advocates,

Please join LGBT Compassion and other animal advocates for a peaceful demonstration against animal cruelty on Sun., May 9 at 9:00 a.m. to appx. 11:00 a.m. at the Heart of the City Farmers Market in San Francisco on Market St. between Hyde and 7th St. next to the Civic Center BART.

Brochures and signs will be provided. A sample of the brochure (which includes vegan outreach) is available online here www.LGBTcompassion.org/livemarkets/brochure-web.pdf.

More information, including a legal analysis, photos and videos are available at www.LGBTcompassion.org/livemarkets.

UPDATE: Last Sunday, the vendors' daughters physically assaulted me (the 3rd time they have assaulted us, but this is the first where they actually meant harm). The court simply dismissed my charges. One daughter has obtained a fraudulent restraining order against one of us as part of their desperate attempts to stop us from protesting, but we have full video documentation proving that she committed perjury by lying before the court in order to obtain it, and is asking us to pay $5,100 in court fees. The police have also repeatedly violated our rights through threats and intimidation, which we have evidence of also. We are currently reviewing all of our evidence against the vendor Raymond Young, market management/security, and the police to determine appropriate legal action.

PLEASE - we really need more volunteers, so we can have an even stronger impact, and prove that they are not able to intimidate us! And, though I really hate to ask this, it would be very helpful to have volunteers of Asian heritage (or even any other non-Caucasians), especially as the Chinese business community is beginning to fire up allegations of racism in the recent ban on live frogs and turtles in live markets - and this frightens politicians as the Asian vote is quite powerful in San Francisco. We usually refuse to dignify assertions that race or culture have anything to do with this campaign, but it would still be good for appearances to be more diversified.

Please RSVP, if possible.

Thanks,

Andrew