SEIU Besieges Mayor's Office; Shouted Down By Angry Native American

By Lauren Smiley Thu., Nov. 12 2009 at 5:49 PM

Categories: Breaking News, Labor

All hail the 14-foot SEIU puppet!

Icon Frank Chu attempts to steal SEIU's protest thunder: "The SEIU was cheated by the White House and the 12 galaxies. They cheated me out of money for being a movie star, too."

And we thought the most interesting spectacle at the SEIU protest Thursday afternoon was going to be the 14-foot puppet. True, the affair to protest the upcoming layoffs of 600 health care and clerical positions started out pretty placid, with a man burning incense in a ceremonial cup reciting a prayer in Spanish and workers dancing to funk music outside City Hall while brandishing signs reading "I am a woman." Yet the protest quickly heated up when a phalanx of union members stormed the mayor's office chanting "We're fired up! We can't take it no more!"

The doors to Gavin Newsom's Room 200 were soon locked, with two guards barricading the door and refusing entry to the press and SEIU Local 1021 President Damita Davis-Howard.

SEIU Local 1021 President Damita Davis-Howard attempted to persuade the guards outside of the mayor's office's locked door to let her join the protest going on inside.

The officials even asked the handful of folks outside the door to back away from the area immediately in front of Newsom's door when a mass of 150 protesters flooded up the steps to continue the protests with megaphones.

"The mayor says cut back, we say fight back!" they shouted, a team of police officers moving in to block the door from the angry SEIU masses.

Cops talk down an angry man from the American Indian Heritage Day celebration in the rotunda below who screamed at the protestors to quiet down

After about five minutes of chants, a man attending the American Indian Heritage Day ceremony that was about to begin in the rotunda below stood at the front of the protestors and motioned for them to quiet down, which they did, only for him to start screaming at them: "You are disrupting our event! Can you guys please get the fuck out of here?!" Police moved in to try to talk the man down, as he continued yelling "They come up here and disrupt our land! You're disrespecting our honoring!"

No mayor for you!!!

The SEIU leaders then decided to low-key the demonstration, instructing everyone to sit on the floor outside Newsom's office for a "silent protest." Welcome back from Hawaii, Gavin.