Anti-Google protesters block tech bus near San Jose State campus
Demonstrators protest tech giant’s plans to build massive campus for employees
Protesters dressed in white jumpsuits surrounded a bus carrying tech workers Thursday morning near the San Jose State campus, preventing it from moving for about 45 minutes.
Beginning at about about 8:10 a. m., between 15 to 20 protesters positioned themselves in front and back of the bus near the intersection of North Fourth and San Salvador streets. The protesters, who said the bus was transporting Google employees to the company’s campus inMountain View, carried banners, one of which read “Evict Google.”
The tech giant is planning a huge development that could bring as many as 20,000 workers to downtown San Jose, raising concerns the project would force out longtime residents. Police said they didn’t know if the bus contained Google employees.
The protest disrupted traffic around San Jose State, and resulted in street closures around the school’s 4th Street parking garage.
San Jose and San Jose State police were on the scene, and once San Jose police threatened to arrest the protesters, the protesters moved to the sidewalk, allowing the bus to move shortly after 9 a.m.
As the bus turned on to North Fourth Street, the protesters chanted “We will not be displaced, we will not be erased.”
San Jose police spokeswoman Gina Tepoorten said officers at the scene at tempted to speak with protesters, who refused to engage in talks. When that effort failed, Tepoorten said officers issued a dispersal order, effectively telling protesters to clear the roadway or risk arrest.
Sandy Perry, president of the Affordable Housing Network of Santa Clara County, said the grassroots effort protested the Google development, saying it will only add to the housing crisis and will force working families to become homeless.
“This was a group of people from different organizations who are opposed to this Google project because of all the tens of thousands of people it is going to displace,” Perry said, speaking about the possible massive Google village in downtown San Jose.
“People thought it was necessary to do something to stop Google and to let Google know they’re really not welcome here.”
In recent years, protesters have staged similar protests to block tech buses in San Francisco, among other places.