{"id":42157,"date":"2025-06-24T13:02:24","date_gmt":"2025-06-24T20:02:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/?p=42157"},"modified":"2025-06-24T13:02:26","modified_gmt":"2025-06-24T20:02:26","slug":"hands-off-iran-hundreds-of-s-f-protesters-condemn-trump-for-bombing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/2025\/06\/24\/hands-off-iran-hundreds-of-s-f-protesters-condemn-trump-for-bombing\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Hands off Iran\u2019: Hundreds of S.F. protesters condemn Trump for bombing"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

By\u00a0David Hernandez<\/a>,Breaking News Reporter Updated\u00a0June 22, 2025 (SFChronicle.com)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Demonstrators protest President Donald Trump\u2019s decision to bomb Iranian nuclear facilities during a rally Sunday at Embarcadero Plaza\u00a0in San Francisco. Manuel Orbegozo\/For the S.F. Chronicle<\/em><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hundreds of protesters condemned President Donald Trump\u2019s decision to bomb Iran<\/a> during a rally Sunday at San Francisco\u2019s Embarcadero Plaza, with many speakers accusing him of war crimes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2022 \u2018Congress exists\u2019:<\/strong> Bay Area lawmakers deride Trump\u2019s decision to bomb Iran as unlawful, risky<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The demonstration, organized by the protest umbrella group the Answer Coalition, denounced Trump\u2019s order as a violation of the U.N. Charter, international law and the U.S. Constitution. The coalition said U.S. funding should instead go to health care, education and infrastructure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHands off Iran now,\u201d demonstrators chanted, many holding anti-war signs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cNo war on Iran,\u201d a sign read. \u201cMoney for people\u2019s needs, not the war machine,\u201d another said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The group also voiced support for Palestinians, expressing opposition to U.S. funding for Israel\u2019s war in Gaza.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cFrom the river to the sea, Palestine will be free,\u201d chanted the group, which included two people holding large Palestinian flags.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n

Nearby, along the Embarcadero, a smaller group of demonstrators rallied in support of the U.S. aggression and protested what they described as an oppressive regime under the Iranian government. They waved Iranian flags and held signs calling for a regime change in the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Trump, who days ago said he would decide \u201cwithin the next two weeks\u201d whether to involve the U.S. in Israel\u2019s assault on Iran, took the world by surprise with the weekend bombing. The U.S. struck three missile sites in the attack, which Trump said \u201ccompletely and fully obliterated\u201d Tehran\u2019s nuclear program. The damage could not be independently assessed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis is an outright war crime,\u201d Violette Mansour, 26, of the Palestinian Youth Movement said at the anti-Trump demonstration.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She and several other speakers lambasted the bombings as a U.S.-Israel tactic to distract from the war in Gaza.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThey did this to make us forget that Gaza is starving and being bombed,\u201d Mansour said. \u201cNo matter how hard they try, nothing will make us forget or make us take our eyes off Gaza.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mansour also criticized the U.S. for turning to violence to \u201cget its way.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cTrump calls Iran the bully of the Middle East, but the U.S. is the bully of the world,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n

Some speakers said the bombings were unjustified and unprovoked because the U.S. was not under imminent threat. They noted that while the U.S. and Israel are equipped with nuclear weapons, many believe that Iran does not possess any despite Trump\u2019s actions. Iran has said that its nuclear program serves civilian and peaceful purposes. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Teanna Tillery, 48, of United Educators of San Francisco, called for the U.S. to fund medicine and education instead of wars.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe want health care, not harm,\u201d she said. \u201cWe want teachers, not tanks.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Among the crowd of about 300 people was Sam Alavi-Irvine, 29, an Iranian American who said it is a privilege to live safely in the U.S.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 \u201cSo I\u2019m showing up for my people and my family and my loved ones who are terrified in Iran,\u201d Alavi-Irvine said, and to show \u201cpeople are watching\u201d developments in the Middle East.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIf we don\u2019t show up, it\u2019s kind of manufactured consent,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n

After the 90-minute protest, the demonstrators marched up Market Street as San Francisco police vehicles \u2014 five vans, two motorcycles and four sport utility vehicles \u2014 followed. \u201cHands off Iran,\u201d the group chanted. Several drivers stopped at a red light at Battery Street honked as the crowd walked by.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sunday\u2019s protests came two days after about 200 people demonstrated<\/a> outside the Speaker Nancy Pelosi Federal Building in San Francisco against U.S. involvement in Mideast conflicts, as well as immigration raids and Israel\u2019s conflict in Gaza. Last weekend, tens of thousands of people packed Bay Area streets and parks during No Kings Day protests<\/a> against the Trump administration. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cTrump lied during the campaign when he said he was going to end the \u2018forever wars\u2019 and bring about peace,\u201d organizers said before Sunday\u2019s protest. \u201cHe is no different from George W. Bush, who lied about \u2018weapons of mass destruction\u2019 to initiate the catastrophic war in Iraq.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Later Sunday, protesters gathered at Livermorium Plaza in Livermore for a separate anti-war rally and vigil organized by Indivisible Tri-Valley and Livermore Indivisible.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Warren Pederson contributed to this report.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

June 22, 2025|Updated June 22, 2025 9:46 p.m.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n

David Hernandez<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

BREAKING NEWS REPORTER<\/p>\n\n\n\n

David Hernandez covers public safety for the San Francisco Chronicle. Before joining the Chronicle in December 2023, he reported on crime, law enforcement and criminal justice for the San Diego Union-Tribune. A graduate of San Diego State University, he is a member of the National Association of Hispanic Journalists. He was born and raised in Santa Cruz.<\/a><\/a><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By\u00a0David Hernandez,Breaking News Reporter Updated\u00a0June 22, 2025 (SFChronicle.com) Demonstrators protest President Donald Trump\u2019s decision to bomb Iranian nuclear facilities during a rally Sunday at Embarcadero Plaza\u00a0in San Francisco. Manuel Orbegozo\/For the S.F. Chronicle Hundreds of protesters condemned President Donald Trump\u2019s decision to bomb Iran during a rally Sunday at San Francisco\u2019s Embarcadero Plaza, with… Continue reading → <\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42157"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=42157"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42157\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":42159,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42157\/revisions\/42159"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=42157"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=42157"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=42157"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}