Animal-rights protest forces Golden Gate to delay Thursday card
Animal-rights protesters, some chained together on the racetrack, disrupted racing and COVID-19 vaccinations on Thursday at Golden Gate Fields.
A group called Direct Action Everywhere set up pickets around the track, and four members chained themselves together and lay down on the track near the five-sixteenths pole at noon, about 45 minutes before the first race. The people on the track also set off purple smoke flares, while another group of protesters waved signs near the entrance that said, “Shut Down Golden Gate Fields.”
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Because of the coronavirus pandemic, there were no spectators at the track for the day’s card.
Golden Gate canceled the first race and resumed the card under lights with the second race at about 7:30 p.m., after the protesters on the track had been unchained and cited by police. The rest of the card was completed without incident.
According to an article in the San Francisco Chronicle, a spokesperson for Direct Action Everywhere said the reason for the protest was to call attention to horse deaths at Golden Gate Fields.
“Today our goal was to ensure that no horses had to race, and to spark the discussion about closing Golden Gate Fields,” an organizer for the group told The Chronicle.
But the protest also resulted in county health officials shutting down a drive-through COVID-19 vaccination clinic in the Golden Gate Fields parking lot for several hours. According to The Chronicle, the clinic was closed because of smoke from the flares and that police and health officials feared more protesters might access the track through the clinic. An estimated 200 people in line to be vaccinated had to have their appointments rescheduled.
In response to the protests, the track tweeted: “We respectfully suggest to the activists that there is a better way to have this conversation and air their concerns. We welcome the opportunity to have this discussion in the appropriate format.”