South SF man arrested for hate crimes after attacking Palestinian demonstrators calling for peace
SOUTH SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. (KGO) -- A 57-year-old South San Francisco man accused of hate crimes against a group of pro-Palestinian demonstrators was arraigned in court on Friday.
The incident happened on Wednesday as activists were calling for the South San Francisco City Council to adopt a resolution calling for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza.
"Bomb bomb Palestine. Bomb bomb Palestine," a man shouted at the demonstrators.
Demonstrators calling for peace were met with hate on Wednesday just outside South San Francisco's Civic Center.
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"Well my first initial reaction was survival mode. I need to document everything," a representative from CA-15 for Ceasefire said.
This woman is a representative for the group CA-15 for Ceasefire. She doesn't want us to use her name over safety concerns.
She identifies as a Palestinian-Muslim and had just spent the day celebrating Eid to mark the end of Ramadan, when she shot video documenting the attack.
"He verbally assaults everyone in our group. With me, he elbowed me in the face, he spit on a friend of mine, he pushed another friend of mine and another friend got her head bumped into," she said.
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Their demonstration called for the South San Francisco City Council to adopt a Gaza ceasefire resolution.
"I'm literally just calling for peace and an end to the genocide and for this violence to stop," she said. "I felt especially targeted because he kept trying to come to me to like physically assault me. I'm wearing a traditional Palestinian dress."
"It escalated quickly and intensely and among other things, in front of my 11-year-old child, which is extremely distressing and hard to process," an organizer of Change SSF said.
This organizer from Change SSF says she was concerned things were about to escalate in front of her son.
Both women say the same man approached their groups last week too.
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"Also really scared that it would escalate, especially with the comments that he's making -- 'Bomb, bomb, Palestine,' and talking about, 'Have you ever killed someone?' and all of these very bizarre sentiments. I was concerned that he would have some weapon on him perhaps," she said.
And these hate crimes are part of a growing trend.
Earlier this month, the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) reported a 419% increase of hate crimes in 2023, which is when the Israel-Hamas war began in Gaza.
"I just can't help to think like if the roles were reversed, how the reaction of the city and our elected officials and our community would be," the representative from CA-15 for Ceasefire said. "I feel like we constantly get swept under the rug when hate crimes happen to my community."
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Police say the man in the video, a 57-year-old South San Francisco resident, was arrested shortly after the incident.
He's facing charges of battery, threats and hate speech.
As for future demonstrations from these groups, they say, their work isn't done yet.
"People want us to stop, we can't stop, we need to keep showing up because anything we're dealing with here in America is nothing compared to what people are dealing with in Gaza," she said.
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