Back from the trenches.
I'm an idiot and left my phone sitting at work on the charger, so no photos from me
. But there were plenty of folks there with cameras, including one Mr. Norm Fishbulb, so there are sure to be photos available in a day or so.
I took an early lunch so I could be there before the scheduled noon press conference while they were arriving. As I pulled into the parking lot I spotted about 4 people with signs on the corner. In the parking lot, as I walked across it with my sign, there were a few news vans and MANY people carrying yellow Yes banners. It's the first time I've been on the streets outnumbered like that, a new experience.
I said hi to the few people that were there. The organizer recognized my sign from Saddleback. Then a cop came over and gave the usual, "Be safe and polite" speech. He then let us know that the lot I happened to be parked in was probably not the best lot to be in, so I handed my sign off while I tooled around for a place to park that wouldn't get me towed. It also meant that I think I missed most of the news crew filming that went on.
By the time I got back the crowd had already grown quite a bit. Probably 40 or so folks, some had moved to a corner across the street. Shortly, as the number of protesters continued to increase, a contingent moved away from the hotel entrance and towards the busier intersection at McArthur. Maybe 15 people ended up over there.
Eventually, with but an evening's and morning's notice, the crowd swelled to somewhere around 100 people! It was amazing, we overwhelmed the trickle of Yes folk heading into the hotel. Peacefully but angrily greeting them with chants of "No on Hate" or "Yes You Hate".
I had to get out of there pretty early as I still needed to grab food before returning to work, but with the solid size of the crowd, with more people arriving by the minute, it was a good time to depart, but not before I went out of my way to drive by with a supportive blare of the horn while I made my U-turn.
Tomorrow should be an experience.