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Former Hunger Strikers to March from SF to Sacramento to Protest Police Violence

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The Frisco 5 hunger strikers are pushed by wheelchair by doctors from UCSF during a march to City Hall demanding that Mayor Ed Lee fires SFPD Chief Greg Suhr on day 13 of their hunger strike on May 3, 2016 in San Francisco, California. Photo from El Tecolote.

The #Frisco5 are back! Well at least some of them are. Members of the #Frisco5 will be marching from San Francisco to Sacramento to protest police violence.

If you recall, in April and May of 2016 five people sat in front of the Mission polices station in San Francisco and went on hunger strike to protest police violence against people of color. Called the #Frisco5 and comprised of Maria Cristina Gutierrez, her son Ilych Sato (aka Equipto), Edwin LindoSellassie Blackwell, and Ike Pinkston, these brave activists went without solid foods for 17 days. One of their main demands was the firing of Police Chief Greg Suhr, who subsequently stepped down after the police shooting of Jessica Williams on May 19th, 2016. The pressure put on the SFPD by the #Frisco5 almost certainly led to his resignation.

On October 6th, Cristina Gutierrez and Equipto, along with Mothers on the March and Black and Brown for Justice, Peace and Equality, will be launching a March for Peace. Their demand is for accountability from State Attorney General Javier Becerra for the police killings of Mario Woods, Alex Nieto, Jessica Williams, Amilcar Perez Lopez, Kenneth Hardy Jr and Luis Gongora.

The March for Peace will start with a press conference at noon at 850 Bryant in San Francisco on October 6th and will have planned gatherings every night at 730pm in the following towns:

Mill Valley, San Rafael, Petaluma, Novato, Sonoma, Napa, Fairfield, Vacaville, Dixon, Davis, Sacramento.

This march will be supported by the Do No Harm Coalition, health workers and students working to end racism and state violence. Previously the Do No Harm Coalition has come out in support of the #Frisco5, Colin Kaepernick, the Water Protectors at Standing Rock, and more.

If you have questions or want to get involved you can reach out to Cristina Gutierrez at companeros98@hotmail.com.

We will be keeping tabs on this story and reporting on it as things develop.

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Broke-Ass Stuart - Editor In Cheap

Broke-Ass Stuart - Editor In Cheap

Stuart Schuffman, aka Broke-Ass Stuart, is a travel writer, poet, TV host, activist, and general shit-stirrer. His website BrokeAssStuart.com is one of the most influential arts & culture sites in the San Francisco Bay Area and his freelance writing has been featured in Lonely Planet, Conde Nast Traveler, The Bold Italic, Geek.com and too many other outlets to remember. His weekly column, Broke-Ass City, appears every other Thursday in the San Francisco Examiner. Stuart’s writing has been translated into four languages. In 2011 Stuart created and hosted the travel show Young, Broke, and Beautiful on IFC and in 2015 he ran for Mayor of San Francisco and got nearly 20k votes.

He's been called "an Underground legend": SF Chronicle, "an SF cult hero":SF Bay Guardian, and "the chief of cheap": Time Out New York.