Corporate buses that were said to be operated by Apple and Google Inc were blocked by protesters in San Francisco and Oakland on Friday, December 20, Reuters reported. The report said the protest was one of the latest signs of the growing backlash on the impact brought about by the tech industry in the city especially when it comes to affordable housing.
In the Mission district, around 40 protesters surrounded a corporate bus on its way to picking up employees in the morning. The protest prevented the bus from leaving for around half an hour, the report said. While it was not clear which company the bus was headed for, it had a small sign which read "Main Campus, Ridgeview." Reuters did an internet search and found that Apple has offices in Ridgeview Court near its Cupertino, California headquarters.
A source also told Reuters that two Google buses were also the target of protesters in Oakland on the same day.
A San Francisco protestor was quoted in the report as addressing the crowd from the back of a pickup truck blocking the bus as saying, "We want the ruling class, which is becoming the tech class, to listen to our voices and listen to the voices of folks that are being displaced." The protesters also unveiled a banner which said "Eviction Free San Francisco" and gave out flyers bearing the title "San Francisco: A tale of two cities."
In a statement, Google said they did not want to inconvenience the residents of the Bay Area. The search giant said in a statement, "We and others in our industry are working with San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency to agree on a policy on shuttles in the city."
The report said buses symbolized what some complain of as San Francisco's technology-driven gentrification where tech workers, who are usually young and well-paid, forcing out the city's less wealthy policies and policies as well as the city's policies being condemned by some critics as too generous for the tech industry.
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