Last night around 10, witnesses spotted a group of a dozen (or so!) protestors marching down Ninth Street near First Avenue handing out flyers in solidarity with the Pelican Bay State Prison hunger strike in California. The three-week-long strike began due to poor conditions at the prison. A little background via Southern California Public Radio:
"The strike originated in the Special Housing Unit of the prison, which houses 1,100 inmates who are completely isolated from one another in soundproof cells and are let out for only one hour each day. The strike has spread to thirteen other state prisons with 6,500 inmates participating over the past few days, thus making it the largest prison strike in California in a decade."
Witnesses told Bob Arihood at Neither More Nor Less that the group — mostly dressed in black — "emptied trash containers and tossed newspaper dispensers into 2nd avenue while chanting anti-police rhetoric." Bob has a photo of the aftermath on Second Avenue here.
Could have been more dramatic. For instance, yesterday in Seattle, organizers hung a banner, tossed flyers and set off a smoke bomb in a busy downtown intersection.
