Transgender activists are demanding the charges be dropped against five marchers after San Francisco police cracked down on their alleged vandalism.  

Breonna McCree, the co-executive director of the Transgender District, and Niko Storment, the co-director of the Trans March, have called for Mayor Daniel Lurie to have the charges dropped and to meet their safety calls in a meeting on Monday. 

The demands came after five people were arrested in June during the Trans March for alleged vandalism, obstructing law enforcement, and battery upon an officer. 

The San Francisco Police Department said demonstrators vandalized property and people with paint and assaulted people. The force also said that while officers were trying to detain suspects, they were surrounded by marchers, who obstructed them from leaving Turk and Taylor Streets. 

Two officers were treated for non-life-threatening injuries.  

Two were arrested for obstruction, while three were taken in for vandalism, police said.  

However, marchers say police acted out of line by throwing participants to the ground, pepper-spraying them, and pointing guns at them. 

Now, they want the Democratic mayor to urge District Attorney Brooke Jenkins to drop the charges. 

Breonna McCree, the co-executive director of the Transgender District, and Niko Storment, the co-director of the Trans March, have called for Mayor Daniel Lurie to have the charges dropped against the five who were arrested 

The San Francisco Police Department said demonstrators vandalized property and attempted to obstruct officers from leaving 

Graffiti and spray paint are seen on local businesses near the march 

They also demanded the mayor invest in community safety, instead of police, and to replace officers with civilian traffic management. 

‘What happened at Turk and Taylor this year, at the end of Trans March, I don’t ever want to see happen again,’ McCree said, according to KRON 4. 

‘Trans people were brutalized; they were scared; they were traumatized.’  

Storment said: ‘Invest in community safety instead of expanding policing.’ 

Storment told protesters outside of City Hall on Monday that although the mayor heard them out, ‘nothing has been promised yet.’ 

‘We need to make sure that we keep our eye [out],’ he said. ‘And you know what, this is how movements are: Showing up every day, and we’re going to keep putting pressure on them, and we’re going to keep making sure our voices are heard.’ 

In an official statement last week, Trans March said their organization was wrongly being displayed as the ‘aggressors, while the broader context of anti-trans hostility and discrimination [was] ignored.’ 

‘San Francisco must align itself with taking steps to address this discrimination,’ the statement read. 

Marchers say police acted out of line by throwing participants to the ground, pepper-spraying them, and pointing guns at them.

Storment said Lurie’s office has not committed to anything yet

The Mayor’s Office said it invited the organization to City Hall to ‘initiate a series of conversations that will take us towards safety and visibility for our transgender community in San Francisco’

California State Senator Scott Wiener, who is hoping to replace Nancy Pelosi in Congress, said he was chased away from the march after participants harassed him on his opinion about Israel

The Mayor’s Office told the Daily Mail that it invited the organization to City Hall to ‘initiate a series of conversations that will take us towards safety and visibility for our transgender community in San Francisco.’ 

Police told the outlet that it respects people’s First Amendment rights and has ‘unwavering’ support of the LGBT+ community, but will not tolerate criminal activity. 

California State Senator Scott Wiener, who is hoping to replace Nancy Pelosi in Congress, said he was chased away from the march due to marchers’ aggression toward him. 

The politician said he was chased away due to his stance on Israel and Gaza.

‘They made statements about my “Israeli handlers,” among many other inaccurate, extreme, and vile statements,’ he told ABC 7. 

‘They were so physically and verbally aggressive that it was impossible for me to safely remain in the park.’ 

Lurie previously responded to the attacks against Wiener, calling it ‘targeted, hateful, and antisemitic.’  

The Daily Mail has reached out to Lurie, police, and Trans March for comment.