San Francisco Supervisors Demand Answers After Pride Weekend Police Raid

For six years, the Stud Alley block party has taken place in the South of Market neighborhood during Pride weekend. The event drew hundreds last year, as well as some criticism from neighbors, but police monitored the party then rather than shutting it down or making arrests on the scene.

Police said they responded to the Stud Alley block party on Kissling Street on Saturday night after 11 p.m., where officers ordered the crowd to disperse. Officers arrested a total of 20 people, who they said obstructed police.

“Officers gave an order to disperse for the unlawful assembly and also directed the DJ who was performing at the event to vacate the premises,” said Robert Rueca, a spokesperson for SFPD. “The DJ eventually stopped performing and left the premises, but the crowd refused to comply with the lawful orders.”

“Anti-police graffiti was observed spray-painted on walls, and makeshift barricades had been erected in an effort to prevent officers from entering the area,” he said.

Video footage from the event shows dozens of officers in riot gear marching down the street where the block party was taking place, with visitors shoved and forcefully moved away from the premises.

Saturday night’s encounter came just one day after police also arrested five people in the Tenderloin, following the Trans March. In a statement, SFPD said they were responding to vandalism complaints that day, and that one individual assaulted and sprayed paint on a person.

Video footage from that night shows officers shoving a person to the ground in what appeared to be a chaotic response to police entering the scene.

Fielder has requested the city controller to report by Monday, July 14, on the number of overtime hours and costs associated with the Pride police response.

In a blog post in May, organizers of the Stud Alley event wrote that this year, the party would not unfold in its usual form.

“Our hearts long for the liberatory beauty, the freaky, outrageous, decadent, and depraved dreams-turned-into-actions, of the militant queers who show up,” the unknown organizers wrote.

“But we’re starting to feel that the alley has outgrown itself. Each year it gets bigger, more people show up and not all of them share our dreams,” they said, later nodding to “rebellious play” and LGBTQ+ protests throughout history like Compton’s Cafeteria Riot and Stonewall.