SANTA CRUZ, CA -- Having just recovered from a month of
back-to-back actions, ARDAC-SF decided to throw a last minute action together
at a Santa Cruz McDonald's as part of the national day of action against
the McMurderers. Although we were only able to get 10 people together at
the last minute, we felt we had an excellent chance of taking McDonald's
out for the entire day, if not longer.
Our initial plan was to have 2 activists lock down on
the roof of the McDonald's unfurling a banner, while the rest of the activists
stormed inside. Of those on the inside some were going to lock down while
others would unload as much of the cow manure we were carrying with us
into the food preparation areas (i.e. the broilers, and anywhere else we
could stuff it) as possible. Then we had planned to have an activist call
the department of health, complaining of the cow manure everywhere and
making sure that everything was properly cleaned and sanitized before they
resumed selling food.
Unfortunately, our plan went awry when a police officer
showed up at the McDonald's just as our two activists climbed onto the
roof. Running to the other side of the building, they quickly hung the
banner and were attempting to lock down when police officers arrived on
the roof and arrested them. As the two activists went limp, one was kicked
while the other was brutally dragged across the roof and slammed into a
piece of metal; she would leave the protest in an ambulance as the result
of the concussion she received while in the hands of the police.
While all of the commotion was occurring on the roof,
another police car had arrived and stopped all of the activists still in
the parking lot. A few managed to break free, running into the McDonald's.
One used a lockbox to lock himself to a counter, while the other activists
sat down and began chanting. Eventually all of us were removed from the
restaurant, except for the one activist still locked down inside. One woman
who refused to leave was arrested and put in a police car.
Meanwhile, the crowd had grown hostile. Many McDonald's
customers hovered outside threatening to beat us up and, in one case, stab
the activists as they protested. Not only did the police do nothing to
quell the level of imminent violence, they added to it by joking with the
patrons and giving them high-fives as they threatened and insulted us.
On the inside of the restaurant we could see that the
activist who had locked down was surrounded by people who were trying to
shove hamburgers and the like in his face. Once again, the police stood
by doing nothing but laughing and joking with them. One activist ran in
to try and help the man but was arrested and dragged completely by the
hair into an awaiting police car. Eventually the two activists were pulled
down off the roof by the fire department and arrested as well, one being
put into a police car and the other into an ambulance. The police then
were forced to cut apart a piece of a counter to remove the man who had
locked to it.
While the action did not turn out the way we had planned,
it was still positive in that we were able to get out our message and disrupt
business at one of the busiest times of the day. At one point the McDonald's
was actually locked up and closed down while they attempted to figure out
what to do. We received a moderate amount of media and certainly found
that, while not supportive of us, we had struck a nerve among the public.
We'll be back.
Contact the US McLibel Support Campaign if you:
* need help organizing a McDonald's protest.
* want to protest the McDonald's 1996 annual share holders meeting in Chicago
at the end of May.
* want to take part in a worldwide day of action against McDonald's after
the outcome of the McLibel trial is determined this April.
US McLibel Support Campaign P.O. Box 5461
River Forrest, IL 60305-5461
ph: (312) 282-8236 & bull
fax (312) 282-8238 & bull;
email: mdurschmid@aol.com (temporary)
http://www.McSpotlight.org/