> *Please Distribute Widely* -San Francisco FNB has been ordered by the
> police
> to cease serving free food or face citations and possible arrest.
>
> Friends and comrades,
>
> San Francisco Food Not Bombs has had a long history of harrassment and
> repression on the part of City government and the police. For many years
> we
> were arrested routinely, food confiscated, threats by the police made to
> our
> members, our literature and banners seized. We were arrested in Golden
> Gate
> Park in 1988 and in Civic Center under the Agnos' administration. Art
> Agnos
> was able to secure a court injunction against FNB - making it illegal for
> us
> to serve free food in public. We were arrested hundreds of times under
> the
> Jordan administration at our daily community meals in Civic Center and
> the
> United Nations Plaza. In the last major election, almost 4 years ago -
> Mayor
> Willie Brown pledge that he would not arrest FNB and that he would
> dismantle
> the matrix program which targeted homeless people for 'quality of life'
> infractions which lead to mass ticketing and police sweeps. While Mayor
> Brown ended the arrests against FNB, homeless people have faced even
> greater
> persecution. The District Attorney, Terrence Hallinan, pledged that he
> would not prosecute charges against FNB memebers for serving food and he
> defended our actions.
>
>
> It has been almost 4 years since our last arrest for serving free food.
> We
> have recently been approached by the SF Police Department and told to
> stop
> serving. At our community meal at United Nations Plaza on Friday
> September
> 3rd and tonight, on Sunday September 12th, FNB servers were approached by
> the police and told that we must cease our activities as we are in
> violation
> of the law. On September 3rd, two FNB servers were given citations for
> serving food. On September 12th, an FNB memeber was told that he might
> get
> a citation from the health department - however the health department
> official declined to come down and inspect us as the police requested.
> The
> Health Department offical apparently said, 'I don't want to get
> involved',
> according to the officer in charge. While the police and FNBer were able
> to
> discuss the situation calmly, the police made it clear that there was
> some
> kind of political pressure to sweep us out of the area.
>
> We are to be removed from the area as we provide direct services to
> homeless
> and low-income people and we are a visible sign of protest against
> reactionary city policy and economic inequality generally. The Mayor and
> many on the Board of Supervisors have repeatedly attacked the civil
> rights
> of homeless people, villianized homeless people in their rhetoric and
> implemented policy to force homeless people out of public spaces, like
> United Nations Plaza.
>
> We have been threatened with the possibility of citations and we have
> strong
> reason to believe that this could esculate into arrests against Food Not
> Bombs. The current election race for Mayor is heating up in SF and some
> have speculated that there may be a connection.
>
> We will continue to conduct our free, open, public community meals -
> serving
> dinner everynight at United Nations Plaza around 5:30-6pm. We are
> currently
> in the process of deciding what action to take. We will be calling for
> solidarity from the social justice movement that we are apart of.
> Hopefully
> we can generate enough community and political support now, so that we
> can
> put a stop to this harrassment.
>
> What you can do! We will be meeting soon to talk about stratgey and will
> keep you posted as the situation develops. For now, if you can contact
> the
> Mayor, the District Attorney and the Board of Supervisors and express
> your
> concern about this situation and support for FNB, it would be greatly
> appreciated.
>
> Mayor Willie Brown 415.544.6141 or mayor@ci.sf.ca.us
> District Attorney Terrence Hallinan 415.553.1752
> Board President Tom Ammiano (an ally) 415.554.5144 or supammiano@aol.com
> Supervisor Sue Bierman 415.544.6661 or Sue_Bierman@ci.sf.ca.us
> Supervisor Amos Brown 415.544.7601 or Amos_Brown@ci.sf.ca.us
> Supervisor Leslie Katz 415.544.5335 or Leslie_Katz@ci.sf.ca.us
> Supervisor Barbara Kaufman 415.544.4880 or Barbara_Kaufman@ci.sf.ca.us
> Supervisor Mark Leno 415.554.7734 or Mark_Leno@ci.sf.ca.us
> Supervisor Gavin Newson 415.554.5942 or Gavin_Newsom@ci.sf.ca.us
> Supervisor Mabel Teng 415.544.4981 or Mabel_Teng@ci.sf.ca.us
> Supervisor Michael Yaki 415.544.7901 or Michael_Yaki@ci.sf.ca.us
> Supervisor Leland Yee 415.544.7752 or Leland_Yee@ci.sf.ca.us
> Supervisor Alicia Becrril 415.544.6488 or Alicia_Becrril@ci.sf.ca.us
>
> Thank you very much for your support and solidarity.
> For social and economic justice - chris crass, an FNB organizer
> ______________________________________________________
> *************************************************************************
> <sffnb@iww.org> Signature File Of Thursday 17 September 1998
>
> Communications from this e-mail address <sffnb@iww.org> DO NOT
> necessarily
> reflect views of the San Francisco Food Not Bombs organization, unless it
> is otherwise indicated. The information content and opinions expressed in
> this communication are from individual members, allies and affiliates of
> San Francisco Food Not Bombs.
>
> San Francisco Food Not Bombs
> P.O. Box 40485
> San Francisco, California 94140
> USA
>
> Phone: + 1-415-675-9928
>
> E-Mail: < sffnb@iww.org >
>
> Web Page: < http://www.foodnotbombs.org >
>
> Join the "stop police abuse" list at http://www.egroups.com - subscribe
> to stop-polabuse
>
> People Against Racist Terror (PART) PO Box 1055 Culver City CA 90232
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> URL: <http://people.we.mediaone.net/part2001/index.html>
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>
> End the racist death penalty! Free Mumia Abu-Jamal, Leonard Peltier,
> and all political prisoners and P.O.W.'s in U.S. prisons!
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
> The Oct.22 Coalition to Stop Police Brutality, Repression, and the
> Criminalization of a Generation.
>
> Contact us at <Oct22@unstoppable.com> or 888-NO-BRUTALITY. Official NDP
> web site: <http://www.unstoppable.com/22>
>