Will Bay Area mass protests be peaceful? How events unfold could be crucial to Trump opposition

San Francisco Chronicle​

14 hours ago

Organizers of the Bay Area's No Kings rallies are enlisting some of their participants as peacekeeping marshals for the Saturday demonstrations, the volunteers tasked with snuffing out any flare-ups of violence or disorder.
The events, which are among the estimated 2,000 rallies planned across the nation against President Donald Trump that day, come as the administration points to protests over this month's federal immigration raids, which have at times been marked by property damage and clashes with law enforcement, as justification to deploy the National Guard and Marines to Los Angeles.
The timing of the protests presents a challenge for Bay Area and national Democratic leaders, who know that it will play into Trump's hands if widespread violence erupts. Protest organizers have vowed to keep the actions peaceful, but as events in Los Angeles have shown, large protests can take a life of their own.
'Given the threats from the Trump administration, they're really going to be going out of their way to try to maintain, as much as possible, nonviolent discipline, so as not to give the authorities the excuse to crack down,' said Stephen Zunes, a professor of politics and international studies at the University of San Francisco.
Stewart Chen, an Oakland Chinatown leader who is part of the planning committee for the city's march, said no one wants to give Trump an excuse to send troops to the Bay Area.
'I have been given assurances time and time again that this is going to be a family-friendly event,' said Chen, who is an immigrant from the Philippines. 'It's not going to be like L.A., we're not fighting ICE… we're just exercising our freedom of speech and freedom of peaceful assembly.'
Still, officials aren't taking any chances. While they've spoken in support of protesters' rights to make their voices heard, they've also issued stern warnings about law-breaking. In San Francisco, Mayor Daniel Lurie stood next to the police chief, sheriff, district attorney and others Friday to deliver the message.
'We are … here to protect our small business owners and our residents and visitors,' Lurie said. 'I want to be crystal clear, if there is violence or destructive activity, law enforcement will step in. If you assault a police officer or break windows of a local business, you will be arrested.'
Police arrested more than 150 people after a protest Sunday night in San Francisco.
Chen, who became involved in the Oakland rally after the movement's nationwide organizers asked him to speak at the march's kickoff, said he passed on these assurances to everyone he's spoken to, which included officials with the California Highway Patrol, city councilmembers and the governor's office.
Chen said national organizers are sending in about 100 people to participate in the marches and act as crowd control, and Chinatown's own, orange-vested patrol team will have several dozen members lining up along Eighth Street.
The crowd-controllers' role, Chen said, will be to 'identify bad apples and point them out to police.'
'So if people start throwing projectiles or something, (the volunteers) mobilize, sort of surround them, get between them and the cops, and isolate them from the group,' Zunes said.
In warning against violence Friday, Lurie and others were careful to express support for peaceful protests and the immigrant community.
'As mayor, my top priority is keeping everyone in San Francisco safe,' he said, 'and I'm fully committed to protecting everyone's first amendment rights.'