We Won: October 11 Victory

Speaker (00:18 - 00:44): Bomb hills, not people. That's the motto of Saturday's pro-Palestinian protest starting at the top of San Francisco's Twin Peaks. Where a group of skaters could get together and sort of show their solidarity with the Palestinian people by doing, you know, the thing that skaters in SF are good at, going down hills super fast. The idea starting with one skater, one flag, and one hill.

Speaker (00:44 - 01:08): After a lot of positive reception and interactions with skaters, this could potentially be an event. And so the planning began, as did the support from local nonprofits. The reception that I got meant a lot because a lot of these, a host of them, all of us responded super positively just to the idea of having sort of a different mode of different medium of protest.

Speaker (01:08 - 01:32): It's such an unusual type of action. It's not something that Code Pink usually does. In fact, we never skateboard or skate down a very steep hill in San Francisco. We never do that. But that's not stopping Code Pink, which will be one of the organizations speaking at a rally after the Hillbomb. We were thrilled to be invited and

Speaker (01:32 - 01:54): It's a fundraiser too, which I love. It's a fundraiser for Palestinian children's relief. And organizers say don't get the Twin Peaks event confused with the Dolores Park Hill Bomb, which in the past has turned chaotic. This group is working closely with police to ensure a safe event. As opposed to sort of prior hill bombs that are just sort of the

Speaker (01:54 - 02:19): and mass free-for-all. We're going to take a little bit more of a structured approach. And a more inclusive approach, welcoming skaters, cyclists, runners, and walkers. The police are actually working with us to close down intersections. We tried to choose the safest route and also get the route with the most flexibility for people. Tara Campbell, ABC7 News.

Reporter: In San Francisco today, the Hillbomb returned, but this time to Twin Peaks. Organizers also decided to use this event as an opportunity to support social causes, but primarily Palestinians in Gaza. ABC 7 News reporter Tara Campbell was there as skaters zipped down the hill.

Reporter: Skaters speeding down San Francisco's Twin Peaks Saturday, hillbombing for a cause.

Ciaran Trevino: We're here standing in solidarity with Palestine.

Event Participant: Rather than just being an activist on your phone, you can get out and just really do things for the community and make your voice heard.

Reporter: Does this hill scare you?

Participant: No. Tons of hills in SF. Could be worse.

Another Participant: What do you think of this hill? It's daunting. I'm probably going to finish putting a hole through the bottom of my sneakers as a break, but it's going to be fun.

Reporter: Event organizer Ciaran Trevino pivoting from the Dolores Park hill bomb, which in years past has become chaotic. This time around, working with police.

Ciaran Trevino: I would do this again. I would maybe wait a little while just to cool down from how intense this last one was, all that planning, but yeah, I would definitely do this again.

Reporter: The hill bomb reaching beyond the skateboarding community from walkers to cyclists.

Cyclist: I'm riding for a free Palestine, end of occupation. What do you think of the turnout today? Beautiful, beautiful.

Another Participant: This is my first time on an electric unicycle, so we'll see if I splat my face. Just try to capture it on video too.

Maria De Soto: Maria De Soto came over from Oakland to ride. My eyes were opened on Gaza. It's like a ceasefire or not. They need to be free.

Reporter: And with an Israel-Hamas peace deal in the balance, these Hillbombers have some hope.

Ciaran Trevino: We might cautiously have something to celebrate, a potential ceasefire deal. But at the same time, we also recognize that these, you know, truces have fallen through before.

Reporter: Tara Campbell, ABC 7 News.

Dana Cronin: Live from KQED News, I'm Dana Cronin. Good morning.

Dana Cronin: Dozens of skateboarders, cyclists, and others on wheels rolled down twin peaks yesterday for a tamed down version of the Dolores Hillbomb, organized to support Palestinians. KQED's Billy Crews reports.

Billy Crews: Wheels roar as skaters make their way down the massive hill, many holding Palestinian flags. Along the route, onlookers are cheering for the riders, but also for the message to stand in solidarity with Palestinian people. Here's event organizer and San Francisco skater, Ciaran Trevino.

Ciaran Trevino: Skateboarding is already in and of itself a little bit of sticking it to the man, reclaiming the streets, and combining that with more standard protest, we thought would be an interesting fusion, and that would appeal to a lot of people.

Billy Crews: One of those people is skateboarder Peggy Lau.

Peggy Lau: I heard about this Palestine hillbomb and sounded really interesting and super important and super fun, so decided to come out here. I think it's super important, and it connects people.

Billy Crews: Past hillbombs have been notorious for conflicts with police and even a death, but this event was extremely tame for an extreme sport. Organizers say they acquired permits beforehand, and the San Francisco police even helped block off side streets to keep riders and cars separated. Here's Trevino again.

Ciaran Trevino: This is not a mass riot that we're throwing. This is just a bunch of people getting together, standing in solidarity with Palestine, doing something that they love, skateboarding.

Billy Crews: Activists rallied at the bottom of the hill, along with groups like Code Pink and the Palestinian Youth Movement. I'm Billy Crews, KQED News.

David Rosenberg: As Israel sees fire mandated halt in its two-year war on Gaza allowed rescue workers to reach devastated areas, the bodies of 135 Palestinians have been pulled from beneath the rubble across the coastal strip.

Reporter: A San Francisco event united American leaders in the U.S. and other people against what many see as the ongoing genocide and engineered famine in Gaza. Organizers say they wanted to transform the San Francisco tradition of a hill bomb into a powerful act of collective resistance. There was a rally at Nolan Beaver Streets with speakers and music and a unique direct action that brought together the skateboarding, cycling, and activist communities in a powerful display of solidarity.

Reporter: The Bomb Hills Not People's Campaign to Transform San Francisco's iconic Twin Peaks into a site of resistance through skateboarding, biking, and walking down the hill in solidarity with Palestine was endorsed by over 60 organizations.

Ciaran Trevino: Over the last two years, I've been devastated by the images I've seen coming out of Gaza. And a few months ago, one of the things that I like to do when there were protests going on in the city is bring my Palestinian flag over to Point Lobo, out by Ocean Beach, and just go down that hill and try and just generally raise awareness. It was about three months ago, I was on that hill. And the idea had come to me that I had previously participated in a hill bomb in 2020 for Black Lives Matter. That was also at Twin Peaks. And so the idea just sort of came to me, why don't we do a similar event, just in this case, for Palestine.

Reporter: At the end of the hill bomb event, local organizations spoke about why it was important to come together for Palestinian solidarity, even though the announcement of a Trump administration driven ceasefire happened. Speakers came from local socialist groups, the Answer Coalition, the Service Employees International Union, and Bay Area Code Pink.

Reporter: Trevino said, the broad coalition for solidarity for the Palestinian people that developed around this community event is intended to last into the future. The coalition is raising funds for the humanitarian aid work of the Palestinian Children's Relief Fund for Pediatric Care Medical Kids and support for survivors of Israel's war on Gaza.

Reporter: Trevino explains that because recent hill bomb events became contentious with local law enforcement, organizers planned ahead to coordinate with authorities in advance for a safe event.

Ciaran Trevino: I would actually like to thank the SFPD for working so closely with us on this, because I think especially with events like this, cooperation and planning with the event organizers to make sure everyone is safe, I think is the best course of action, and SFPD has demonstrated that so far.

In Berkeley for Pacifica KPFA, this is Diana Kepkabin.