The requisite Mission Street mayhem and fireworks erupted after the 49ers’ big win Saturday night, and was rowdy but not violent, though a few Muni buses will be placed on injured reserve.
The NFL was just asking for it by scheduling a San Francisco 49ers playoff game on a Saturday night. Because when the 49ers beat the Green Bay Packers in a 13-10 comeback win, the victory was sealed at roughly 8:10 p.m. PT on a Saturday night. And you simply knew what would be uncorked onto Mission Street at that point.
We’re happy to say we’ve seen no reports of injuries, and SFist monitored the celebratory hotbed of 24th and Mission Streets for about two hours after the win.
The party was loud, and while entirely unlawful, it was pretty much a peaceful and good-natured gathering.
SFist saw no real violent incidents, nor did we observe any arrests made.
A KPIX writeup notes that SFPD said “We have reports of sideshows in the area.” of the Mission District. But SFist only observed motorists that revved it up like they were going to do a sideshow, getting the crowd all riled up, but they did not go through with any actual donuts.
Though there was definitely a problematic element, namely taggers climbing upon Muni buses, and even spray-painting on the windshield so the driver could not see.
It’s got to be a pretty terrifying moment for the driver and the passengers on this vessel, as they’re basically at the mercy of these unpredictable revelers. Moreover, explosives are being lit off on that street, so there’s certainly a safety concern here.
The bus in the video below gives you a pretty good sense of what befell the exterior of any 14 or 49 that had Saturday night duty.
By 9:40 p.m. Muni had figured out to simply stop sending buses down Mission Street for awhile, given what was inevitably happening to these vessels.
But respect where it's due; we have to acknowledge that SFPD did an excellent job with crowd control and deescalation.
oop now it’s all sirens
— Anarcho-Cymbalist (@tarintowers) January 23, 2022
As seen below, the cavalry showed up at about 9:55 p.m. They did a show of muscle and made a few intimidating statements over the megaphone, they got the scofflaw motorists to stop, and diffused the mayhem in less than four minutes.
You don’t usually see police crowd control situations like the where the demonstrators are shouting “Let’s Go Ninerrrrs!,” but when a San Francisco sports franchise wins a Saturday night playoff game, that is exactly what you are going to get.
This now sets the 49ers up for the NFC Championship Game next Sunday, and a chance for another Super Bowl trip. We don't yet know what time that game will be (we’ll know later today, though), but it will be either a 12 Noon or 3:30 p.m. kickoff. Which means the game will end at either 3:30-ish 6:30-7 p.m.-ish. And if I were a Muni operator, I’d keep my bus off Mission Street during that particular time range.
Image: Joe Kukura, SFist
