Protesters Plunged Los Gatos Town Council Meeting into Chaos

Revolution has come to Los Gatos.

Well, that’s how one gadfly framed the town council’s Sept. 7 meeting, which descended into chaos after pro-police and anti-mask protesters’ separate-but-equal fears of government oppression collided.

The temporary recess that followed looked more like a low-budget Capital insurrection.

Brian Paul, Los Gatos Police Officers Association president, was the evening’s first public speaker, warning the community of a looming public safety crisis with only three full-time 9-1-1 dispatch staff members. The POA also called supporters to arms, lamenting how the LGPD was reduced from 50 to less than 39 officers over the past 20 years, to serve a population of 30,000.

Mayor Marico Sayoc eventually had Paul’s microphone turned off after he blew past his three minutes of allotted time, but was forced to call a recess when a dozen other attendees demanded the ability to cede their time to Paul.

(Spoiler: That’s not how public comment works, and the council supported boosting salaries to help recruitment on its consent calendar not even 5 minutes earlier, so the explosive contention was moot.)

It’s hard to decipher the entire fallout, as town staff muted the intermission, and one anti-masker Rumble poster overdubbed Creedence Clearwater Revival’s 1969 rock-twang hit “Fortunate Son” on a clip of the kerfuffle—a move bordering on ironic.

However, the crowd’s tone was crystal clear, as vitriol ranged from threats that town administration “should be run out of town” to cries that no one will be safe “when someone’s raping you in your home.”

Yikes. Maybe that energy should be directed at local schools’ Title IV administration, instead.

Fortunately, there were enough police officers ready to protect and serve—helping cool down and clear the angry mob so the meeting could resume.

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12 Comments

  1. Looks like Los Gatos needs to step up and start looking out for its TaxPaying residents.

    Santa Clara Valley NEEDs DAs that are going to SUPPORT POLICE and Judges that will Rightfully Prosecute Criminals for their Crimes and a Prison System that is not “Too Comfortable” for the incarcerated.

    DEM leaders (and the voting public) that a year ago supported the Widespread
    Rioting, Looting & Arson in their Failing Cities
    (gaslighting the gullible as ‘Peaceful Protests’ ) now ALSO AGREE.

    “Panicked DEMs Switch from ‘defund’ to ‘REFUND’ the POLICE”

    The resulting surge in violent crime has produced a massive PUBLIC BACKLASH that threatens the careers of elected DEMs throughout the nation.

    Police are not expendable, and the Thin Blue Line between Chaos and Order cannot be allowed to get any thinner.

    A Majority of SanFrancisco residents Now want More Police Presence, less than 1 yr after Mayor Breed supported slashing Police Budgets.
    76% of SF residents want more police in high-crime areas, and
    80% believe crime has accelerated throughout SF.

    Mayors of Portland & Seattle, who respectively slashed Police funding by $15 million and $7.5 million last year, are now moving to RESTORE Police Budgets amid spikes in Violent Crime…

    Chicago’s Mayor Lori Lightfoot (slashed police forces) BUT after a 60% increase in Murders since 2019, she Suddenly ‘SEES the LIGHT’.

    Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey admitted that calls to “defund the police” played a large role in the Crime Wave plaguing his city with a 250% increase in gunshot victims this year.

    DC Mayor Bowser NOW calls for More Police & more police funding after Crime & Murder Spikes..

    Adding to the problem are George Soros funded Irresponsible Leftist DA’s & Prosecutors who have taken office in Philadelphia, LA, San Francisco and other DEM led cities in Decline.

    In the name of racial justice, the So-Called ‘Progressive’ DA’s refuse to prosecute Brazen Crimes and Don’t CARE for the mostly Non-White citizens whom these Criminal Predators victimize.

    The “VICTIMS” of Defund Police and Pro-Crime ‘Progressive’ DA’s are low income Minority Communities.

    FBI stats:
    …the number of black murder victims rose by 23% from 2014 – 2019,
    Greater than 3x as fast as the rise in white victims.
    Blacks now comprise 54% of all murder victims..

  2. Another SJI dismissive article. Basically mocking low police staffing. Just more slanted liberal bias garbage. Dont worry all this crime is circling back around at YOU

  3. So interesting how right wing conservatives like to blame Dems for all of the nations ills (with very obvious racial undertones) when the Trump insurrectionists—with GOP support—attempted a coup against our government and maimed Capitol police while doing it! Defund the police was unfortunate term used during campaigning. All progressives I know don’t want to defund the police, we just want to see equality in policing.

  4. If this had been a BLM event, SJI would have described it as a”mostly peaceful protest.” ? No riot, no shooting, no looting, and no arson but SJI plays the “insurrection “ card. ?. The horror! Can you imagine the fear caused by a handful of middle aged white people with a sign who raised their voices?

    SJI should have played the “race card” because it plays better against LG residents.

    People are beginning to understand the Marxist playbook and they don’t like it.

  5. Thank you The Fly for the short objective news piece.
    Thank you commenters for reminding me how colorful creative and illogical the general public are.
    Read “Thinking Fast and Thinking Slow” -Daniel Kanneman to understand the way lizard brains overtake cognition brains in we the public.

  6. “Thank you The Fly for the short objective news piece.” — No Home Team

    Yes it was short. Score one for NHT’s logic.
    No, it was not objective. From it’s first word (revolution) the slant was obvious, the analogies one-directional, the tone mocking. Score one for NHT’s lizard brain.
    No, it was not a news piece. Not by any standard of journalism. The lizard wins on points.

    It is possible it takes more than simply reading a book to master critical thinking?

  7. It sounds like the police union is seeking to shake down the elected Los Gatos municipality for more resources and/or stoking an insurrection against that municipality. Either way, when the police engage in anti-democratic and/or riotous acts, as police forces have been known to do in too many U.S. cities for too many years (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Police_riot), it’s time for citizens to form a well-regulated militia to insure that they don’t get out of hand. Who elected the police union to tell our local government how to conduct it’s affairs in the first place?

  8. “Either way, when the police engage in anti-democratic and/or riotous acts, as police forces have been known to do in too many U.S. cities for too many years (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Police_riot)…” — Facendo Guaio

    — Seeking to silence a citizen for voicing concerns to elected representatives is anti-democratic.
    — Challenging a citizen’s right to speak freely because of his/her race, creed, sex, or occupation is anti-democratic.
    — Branding as criminal (incite to riot) the advocacy of lawful citizen action is slanderous and anti-democratic.

    Clearly, Facendo Guaio is as anti-democratic as is the rest of the lunatic left.

  9. clearly the anti american crowd loves their defund the police cause over protecting

    alllll lives that matter

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