Frisco 5 call off hunger strike after 16 days

Five people in San Francisco ended a hunger strike Saturday night after nearly 17 days without solid food, a spokeswoman for the five said in a statement.

The Frisco 5 have been in a hospital for nearly two days now and decided to end their strike at the urging of community members, spokeswoman Yayne Abeba said in the statement.

The five plan to recover and continue their work to shape a movement they’ve started in which they hope to achieve justice for San Francisco’s black and brown residents.

The Frisco 5 went on strike to demand that San Francisco’s Mayor Ed Lee fire his police Chief Greg Suhr over the police shootings in recent years of some San Francisco black and brown residents, such as Alex Nieto, Luis Gongora, Mario Woods and Amilcar Perez Lopez.

Friday, supporters of the Frisco 5 damaged San Francisco’s landmark City Hall building during a protest as they sought to meet with Lee.

The protesters smashed some of the front windows of City Hall and destroyed metal detectors during the protest, which started at about 4 p.m. and lasted until about midnight Saturday.

Thirty-three people were arrested in the incident.

The Frisco Five will likely be in the hospital for a number of days, Abeba said in her statement.

She said in no way are the Frisco 5 conceding their demands for the firing of Suhr. Instead, the five are asking Bay Area residents to join them at 8:30 a.m. Monday in front of City Hall for a general strike.

Bay City News

Bay City News is a 24/7 news service covering the greater Bay Area. © 2022 Bay City News, Inc. All rights reserved. Republication, rebroadcast or redistribution without the express written consent of Bay City News, Inc. is prohibited.