Hundreds of protestors came out Wednesday to successfully delay the eviction of an elderly Chinese couple in San Francisco, reports the SF Examiner.
The Sheriff Department never arrived to carry out the scheduled court ordered eviction.
“At first they were coming here for sure, then we understood that they were coming here to assess and most likely leave, and then it just turns out that they never came,” said Omar Calimbas (pictured left) of Asian Americans Advancing Justice, formerly the Asian Law Caucus. “We’re calling it a victory for today.”
However, Calimbas is also quoted as saying the eviction is “inevitable.”
A meeting has been scheduled by the Sheriff’s Department for today with Calimbas and representatives of the Chinatown Community Development Center.
Gee Gum Lee, 73, her husband, Poon Heung Lee, 79, and their disabled daughter Shiu Man Lee, 48, remain inside the two bedroom apartment they have lived at for 34 years.
They are being evicted under the Ellis Act which allows landlords to evict tenants to sell the property or occupy it themselves.
You can read reaction to Wednesday’s protest from the family and what the protestors plan to prevent the eviction from happening in the SF Examiner.