Out of some 1,200 Facebook friends, somewhere between 100 to 200 showed up to yesterday's March Against Muni protest, which seemed focused on putting an end to rude Muni drivers (?), "only to be co-opted by a larger, more vocal, and far more organized group of Muni drivers," according to several Twitter accounts and SF Appeal.
In the midst of the scene was @munialerts, who noted: "MAM guy utterly lost control of crowd. Union taken over."
SF Appeal goes on to point out:
Union marchers outnumbered the March Against Muni by at least 2 to 1, and by the end of the night -- after a largely one-sided public debate on the steps of City Hall -- March on Muni's organizers declared the drivers their friends, and insisted "everyone is on the same side here."
March Against Muni, if you recall, was started by Jared Roussel -- who has "been in SF for nearly a year and a half (but splits his time between SF and Manhattan) -- who defend himself in SFist's comments sections, saying, "We are here to kick start Muni reform at a critical time, and we have the simple goal of channeling the public's voice and frustration into something more organized and stronger."
For those of you who couldn't make it, which was most of you, here are some pics of the watered-down protest, which includes a naked man, a bit of irony wherein a Muni bus can't move due to the protest, a nod to socialism, and lots of angry riders.
Photos by Matt Baume except where noted.