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If you’re looking for a way to feel safe, you can use the hashtag #F*cksThePolice to tweet at the San Francisco Police Department.
If you want to be more direct, you could tweet #FuckingPolice or #FuckThePoliceSF.
This isn’t the first time San Francisco has come under fire for its “Fuck the Police” signs, which have been around for a few years.
A group of protesters staged a walkout on September 17 to demand an end to police brutality.
A week later, on October 20, protesters marched to City Hall, where they hung a banner saying “Fuck The Police” and smashed windows.
On November 1, the hashtag hit a new high, when a young woman was shot in the face and chest in Oakland.
In a post on Medium on December 13, SFPD Chief Greg Suhr described the “F*cking Police” campaign as a “poster child” of “disrespecting police,” and called on the public to use the hashtags #FucksThePolice and #F**ckThePolice as “trigger warnings for a wide variety of content that may offend, harass, intimidate, or otherwise hurt someone.”
In the wake of the recent protests, several of the hashtagged messages were deleted.
But some remained, and they seem to be gaining popularity.
The #FuckedSF and #FuckSF hashtags, for example, have more than 500,000 retweets.
One person who took to social media to express his anger at the “Fuck San Francisco” signs was an 18-year-old named Josh.
He shared a picture of himself on Facebook holding a sign that read “Fuck SF Police” with the caption, “F**cking police.
Fuck the police.
I want my f*cking city back.”
“It’s a sign of disrespecting the police,” he told the Bay Area News Group.
“It shows that they have no respect for us.”
Another Twitter user, @johannahwillemsen, said he was “disgusted” by the “f*cking SF” sign and said he wanted to “break up with the SFPD.”
“I just wanted to see it removed, and I hope it’s taken down because I think that it’s disgusting and it shows that people are still disgusted by this,” he wrote.
“I’m a little tired of it.
I’m sick of the constant f*ckery, it’s just so ridiculous.
They are not representing the people that live here.
I just want my city back,” he said.
And on Tuesday, a young man posted a photo of himself holding up a “FUCK SAN FRANCISCO” sign on Instagram, saying, “I’m tired of being called a f*cker and being told what to do with my body.
It’s disrespectful to the police, but I’m also tired of seeing my body as a weapon.
Fuck you to the F**king SF.”
And that’s not all.
In a post published by the American Civil Liberties Union, activist Alex Pareene argued that the hashtag was “a way for police to show that they are still at war with the Black community,” but that it was “dangerous and dangerous in the right context.”
“The use of the hashtag in any context raises legitimate concerns that are worth considering,” he added.
“But the public can’t simply be outraged by the fact that someone is using it in a way that’s hateful.
That’s not the same thing.”
A few days later, the ACLU posted a response to Parene’s post.
“In a social media context, ‘Fuck the SF Police’ is a direct threat to the safety of the public,” the post read.
“Its message is harmful to both the public and the police officers who enforce the law in the SF region.”
The ACLU wrote that it had received many calls from concerned citizens who have received harassing messages from the hashtag, and that it hoped to “work with the police to better understand the issue, and to offer more support.”
