Monday night's World Homeless Action Day demonstration sounds like it was a rousing good time despite the evening rain. According to one demonstrator's report, the festive-sounding event began at Civic Center with some live music from the Brass Liberation Orchestra and a "guitar bard" playing a new folk classic, "Rob 'em like Robin Hood, Rob 'em like you and I should." From there, the group moved up Van Ness to the Cathedral Hill Hotel, where other activists were already inside the building that has been left vacant by current owners Sutter Health since 2009.
Apparently SFPD and private security officers at the hotel weren't too concerned with the trespassing: The Examiner reports "only a handful" of cops were on the scene and our Indybay correspondent writes, "the sole two security guards made no attempt to stop anyone."
Several protesters pointed out that many of the hotel's 600 housing units were in good condition. One protester, standing on the roof of the Cathedral Hill Hotel, yelled to his comrades below: "We have plenty of room."
In addition to occupying the Cathedral Hill Hotel, other folks from Homes Not Jails reportedly occupied 17 units in Charlie's Hotel at 1030 Geary. As Tenderblog reminds us both the Cathedral Hill Hotel and Charlie's Hotel are part of planned hospital development projects.
Update: As Bay City News later reported, protesters still inside the Cathedral Hill hotel are saying the rooms in the hotel are furnished and habitable. According to a spokesman for the SFPD it will take a citizen's arrest form from one of the property owners to evict the squatters, but the peaceful protesters have a history of showing themselves out once they've drawn attention to their cause.