Of course last year‘s Olympic protests around the Chinese Consulate at 1450 Laguna near Geary really livlied up the Western Addition / Japantown area in 2008. Let’s review and then see what’s coming up for 2009.
Did this really happen last year? Yes it did. It’s U.C. Davis grad / protest artist Nyendak Wangden hanging off the side of the gosh darn building. It’s supposed to look like she was hung by the neck, but she was safe under the robes in her climbing harness. Safe until somebody on the roof hacked at the red rope causing her to fall. Ouch. Click to expand:
Source unknown This could be a one-of-a-kind photo
How long a fall to the balcony would you say that was? 15 feet or so? Note the absence of the flagpoles in this later photo – those poles got nubbed shortly after the rope cutting incident.
The mise-en-scene from before the rope thang. (NB: The next time you illegally suspend yourself from a building to make a political point, do it above a balcony – it can be a long way to sidewalk otherwise:
But that was then, this is now. More recently, “serial package thrower” Aaron Bassler made the news by throwing items containing wacky stuff (something to do with the “Martian military”) over the fence of the consulate. These objects were treated as bombs by the SFPD. Thusly:
That crime wave is over. What’s coming up in 2009? Well, stuff to do with Tibet – read on after the jump.
And of course, the 20th anniversary of Tiananmen Square is coming up on June 4, 2009 as well. Just saying.
Concertina wire up on the roof and a decrease in flagpoles are two of the more obvious changes the past year. A recent photo:
