A Photographic History of Protest in San Francisco

While most of the Bay Area was marching for women's rights on Saturday, artist/activist Zach Fernandez was scaling the Golden Gate Bridge to hang his own massive protest poster from the iconic landmark.

Fernandez, who is also responsible for altering the Hollywood scene to read "Hollyweed" on New Years Day, told TMZ that he managed to get onto a walkway below the roadway of the Golden Gate Bridge on Saturday night to install a banner which reads "IMPEACH," SFist reports. He also managed to snap the daylight shot of it above before it was removed on Sunday morning.

Of course, this weekend's many protest activities were somewhat par for the course in the Bay Area, where we have a long history of political and social action. Over the last 60 years, San Franciscans have joined together to denounce segregation, inequality, the Vietnam War, the Iraq War, Wall Street, tenant eviction, and more. Take a look at SF's history of protest in the slideshow below and take heart— whatever the next four years brings, our city will be ready to resist, signs in hand.

Caryl Chessman Protest, 1960

On May 2, 1960, demonstrators protested the execution of Caryl Chessman outside San Quentin. Chessman, only 27 at the time, was executed for sex crimes committed as the notorious thief and sexual predator the 'Red-Light Bandit'. During the trial Chessman repeatedly refuted claims that he was the Red Light Bandit, but could not provide evidence corroborating his innocence. During his twelve years on Death Row, Chessman became a cause celebre. His case won media exposure as he presented himself not only as an innocent man but also as one rehabilitated from his prior life of crime. His case attracted interest and support among leading criminologists, liberal intellectuals, and ordinary citizens, many of whom engaged in protests to halt Chessman's execution. (Clarene Hamm/AP)