Dec. 17, 1966: 57 years ago, Dec 17 1966, San Francisco anarchist street theater and [...]

57 years ago, Dec 17 1966, San Francisco anarchist street theater and community group the Diggers held a parade on Haight St announcing “the Death of Money.” After the police arrested two participants, hundreds of marchers stormed the SFPD’s Park Station, demanding their release

Emmett Grogan and Billy Murcott, radical artists from New York, began the Diggers in the Fall of 1966. At first, the two mostly produced avant-garde broadsides, but the police murder of Matthew Johnson in Hunters Point inspired them to take a more action-oriented approach https://t.co/dH9vYodpIQ

During the riots after Johnson’s murder, the Diggers produced posters urging people to violate the curfew. Days later, they began holding Free Food gatherings in Golden Gate Park’s Panhandle and producing radical street theater. In November, they opened a “Free Store” on Page St

In December, they held the Death of Money to celebrate the growing “free” community in the Haight-Ashbury and declare its liberation from capitalism. 200 people marched, burning stage money and singing the Supremes’ “You Keep Me Hangin’ On” to the tune of Chopin’s funeral march

The police intervened, arresting two members of the crowd who were also members of notorious motorcycle club the Hells Angels. After the Angels, “Chocolate George” and “Hairy Henry,” were arrested, the crowd convened on SFPD’s Park Station, chanting for their release

When chanting failed, the crowd surged into the police station. After calling in reinforcements, SFPD pushed the crowd back into the street. Undeterred, they returned to the Haight, where they managed to raise the necessary $350 bail