Multiple downtown San Francisco buildings, as well as a stalled Waymo self-driving car, were spray-painted with pro-Palestine graffiti on Sunday amid a mass protest that drew thousands.
The Flood Building, the former Nordstrom Rack building at 901 Market St. and the Old San Francisco Mint were sprayed with “Free Palestine” messages, according to images by photojournalist Steve Rhodes and Associated Press photographer Noah Berger.
The Chronicle’s office at 901 Mission St. was spray-painted with “Zionism = Terrorism” and “Thawra,” which is Arabic for “revolution.” Video provided to the Chronicle shows a person wearing a black hoodie and white shoes spray painting the “Thawra” message on Sunday as a large crowd of protesters marched down Fifth Street. The messages were painted over on Monday.
What appears to be the same person also spray-painted the sides of a nearby Waymo self-driving car with “Free Palestine” and “Free Gaza,” according to video provided to the Chronicle. Protesters had blocked the car with an orange traffic cone, and there was no driver but at least one passenger in the car as it was sprayed, according to the video.
People walk past graffiti reading “Free Palestine” that was written on the Old United States Mint building in San Francisco.
Lea Suzuki/The ChronicleChronicle Publisher Bill Nagel declined to comment. Waymo didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
On Sunday, protesters gathered to oppose globalization at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit, which they said will worsen climate change. Many protesters marched in support of Palestinians amid an ongoing war between Israel and Hamas, despite APEC focusing on the separate Pacific Rim region.
Prior to APEC, pro-Palestine protests in the past month have coincided with graffiti. Mayor London Breed condemned an October message of “Death 2 Israel” on a Bank of America branch window as vandalism and “disgusting calls to violence.”
“We support the First Amendment right of all people to peacefully protest, but peaceful protest does not include acts of violence or destruction of property. People caught breaking the law during these protests in either way will be held accountable,” said Jeff Cretan, a Breed spokesperson.
Media representatives for the No to APEC Coalition, which organized Sunday’s protest, didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
The city’s Emergency Operations Center didn’t comment directly on Sunday’s protests, but said “San Francisco Police, the U.S. Secret Service, and federal, state, and local partners absolutely respect the rights of the public to demonstrate.”
APEC in San Francisco
There are established “First Amendment Zones” outside of secure areas on Howard Street at Hawthorne Street, the west side of Taylor Street at Sacramento Street, Vallejo Street at Davis Street near the Exploratorium — where President Joe Biden is hosting a party on Wednesday — and near the Legion of Honor on the north side of the 3000 block of Clement Street.
“We are asking that those participating in demonstrations to utilize these zones and to be aware and help minimize impacts on streets and sidewalks that often affect our most vulnerable communities,” the Emergency Operations Center wrote in an email.
Graffiti reading “No Wars” was written on the Old United States Mint building in San Francisco.
Lea Suzuki/The ChronicleThe State Department, which is organizing APEC, didn’t immediately provide comment.
“I think we’ve a tremendous amount of respect for civil society that wants to protest at any of these kinds of events,” Matt Murray, the U.S. State Department’s senior official for APEC, told the Chronicle last week. “It’s a source of pride for me when I’m meeting with other APEC members that I can say that we have people who are actively taking advantage of their First Amendment rights to be able to make their voice heard.”
Reach Roland Li: roland.li@sfchronicle.com; Twitter: @rolandlisf