Mayor Ed Lee was shouted off stage this afternoon by a group of protesters challenging his handling of the ongoing scandal involving SFPD's response to the shooting death of Mario Woods. The Mayor was introducing a an event at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts' annual celebration of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. when he was interrupted by protesters.
San Francisco Examiner reporter Michael Barba attended the event, and tweeted out that the loudest person leading the protest and shouting over the mayor was local rapper Equipto. Equipto made news last October, you'll recall, when video surfaced of him confronting Mayor Lee at a restaurant and calling him a "disgrace to Asians."
The above video was credited to Allison Ekevara Kitpowsong.
This disruption followed on a weekend full of similar protests, including one in which a group camped outside Lee's Glen Park home on Sunday morning telling him he should "wake up" and fire SFPD Chief Suhr, and taunting him to come out and sit down for breakfast with them.
Breaking: Equipto and other Justice for Mario Woods protestors disrupted Mayor Ed Lee's speech. He left the stage pic.twitter.com/RvFRxkEZ3n
— Michael Barba (@mdbarba) January 18, 2016
Update, 5:10 p.m.: The Chronicle reports that the Mayor had only just begun speaking when the protests began.
“I will not be a focus of interruptions,” the paper reports the "clearly flustered" mayor as saying. “Ladies and gentlemen," continued Mayor Lee, "I am also working for a better city. I appreciate your listening to me. I heard you. May I speak now?”
“Your police chief needs to be held accountable,” one protester reportedly shouted. “You think Martin Luther King would be proud of you?”
The mayor left the stage shortly thereafter.
@mayoredlee is heckled off stage by protestors at the @ybca MLK Day celebration. https://t.co/wgOS7BRwEj
— Rico aka Superbizzee (@Superbizzee) January 19, 2016
