The barriers

I keep hearing about rumors that police have "set up barricades" in the Castro, with a kind of ominous overtone.

Here are the barricades that I have seen. I took these pictures at about 6 p.m. yesterday (Tuesday, May 19), and the same ones were there this morning on my way to work. Not what I'd call ominous. More like indicative of an intention to block some automobile traffic so that marchers can have a clear and safe path.

I also keep hearing references to the fact that Thursday, May 21, is the 30th anniversary of the White Night Riots.

I sincerely hope that if the Supreme Court upholds Prop 8, people in San Francisco remember that the City and County of San Francisco voted overwhelmingly against Prop 8. To riot here would be a bad idea. To damage property here would be to attack our supporters. It would accomplish nothing except to produce some really ugly photos and video that could be used by Prop 8 supporters to point at and say, "See? See what animals they are?"

[UPDATE 5/20/09: I also saw eight more at the corner of Castro and 18th today. Again, a few barriers waiting on corners looks to me more like "traffic control" than "crowd control."]