Malaya Movement USA’s Statement on Sexual Assault by SFPD at APEC
Malaya Movement USA members register our disgust and horror after one of our members was sexually and physically assaulted by police officers of the San Francisco Police Department, during protests against Philippine President Bongbong Marcos’s visit and the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC), which was gratuitously welcomed and accommodated by the City of San Francisco.
On November 15, members of the Malaya Movement in the Bay Area and across the country joined protests against CEOs and heads of state, including Marcos, participating in APEC for insidious trade deals that will implement policies harmful to workers in countries in the Global South, exacerbate forced migration, and accelerate the climate emergency. One Malaya Movement member, Mai, acted as protest safety marshal and stood between officers of the SFPD and protesters. Police Sergeant R. Jensen (No. 2146) was clearly caught on camera by SF Standard shoving Mai, then intentionally grabbing her breast.
“While I am horrified and shaken up from being assaulted by SFPD officers, I am unsurprised that they would assault peaceful protestors like myself,” said Mai. “While Marcos Jr. had convoys of police protection, protestors like us were facing police repression. While the state was acting to protect the profit of CEOs and Heads of State at APEC, they sought to silence us for dissenting. What they don’t understand is this: we will do whatever it takes to make our voices heard for an end to the exploitation of our people and our homeland.”
Jensen, using his position to physically and sexually assault a community member, who was powerless to retaliate, during APEC is representative of the City of San Francisco and the San Francisco Police Department’s philosophy of bald contempt for regular community members while protecting the rich and their assets. The city government helped impose APEC on San Francisco by displacing struggling unhoused San Franciscans, merely deciding to provide them with temporary housing to accommodate the world’s rich and powerful. It ramped up surveillance and militarization not for the community but to protect corporations and politicians.
We would like to communicate to Mr. Jensen: you are a menace and a danger to the people of San Francisco. To SFPD Police Chief Bill Scott, if you claim to serve the people of San Francisco, expel Sergeant Jensen from your staff and wield the law to hold him fully accountable. Unless the SFPD would like to continue to trample on its own stated values of “treat members of the public with respect and dignity” and “professionalism in all actions.”
As Malaya Movement USA, we stand committed to defending the rights of all people, especially in the face of state repression and attacks. We call on the public to support us as we seek justice for Mai and others who were brutally attacked and displaced in the name of APEC and hold all perpetrators accountable.
