Protester throws brick at San Francisco mayor during public safety meeting – but hits high school student

AP

A San Francisco public safety meeting descended into chaos when a woman threw a brick at the city’s mayor, striking a high school student.

The wild scene unfolded as Mayor London Breed slammed the city for tolerating “illegal, out-of-control behaviour for far too long.”

The incident happened as the mayor and board of supervisors attempted to hold their meeting outside at the United Nations Plaza, which has become a hot spot for drug dealing and use.

A protester who threw a brick at a color guard after a rare outdoor meeting of the Board of Supervisors is restrained by police at UN Plaza in San Francisco, Tuesday, May 23, 2023. (AP)

But the meeting was reportedly cut short after just 10 minutes as the mayor and supervisors were heckled by the crowd.

And as the officials were getting ready to leave, a brick was thrown towards the podium, hitting a Galileo High School student who was at the meeting with the Junior Reserve Officers’ Training Corps.

The woman who threw the brick was tackled by a member of the crowd before being detained by police. The student was not injured in the incident as the brick just hit her foot, reported The San Francisco Standard.

WATCH: Police officers restrain a woman who reportedly threw a brick toward city officials shortly after this afternoon's open-air meeting at UN Plaza was cut short by hecklers.

The brick hit a high school student.

More information here: https://t.co/PflnrTYb3N pic.twitter.com/78wR5USu3J

— The San Francisco Standard (@sfstandard) May 23, 2023

The San Francisco Police Department says that Elysia Katet, 26, from San Francisco, was arrested and booked into jail for child endangerment and assault with a deadly weapon.

The mayor was immediately booed by the crowd as she called for a new approach to dealing with drugs in the city and harsher punishments for drug dealers.

The city is set to run a pilot programme that would allow for greater enforcement of the laws against public drug use.

“I run into people day in and day out in the Tenderloin, and they say, ‘London, we would have never been allowed to get away with this stuff back in the day,’” she said. “And the fact is, it’s time for a change.”

And she added: Breed said, “Compassion is killing people. We have to change what is happening on the streets. It’s too easy getting drugs, they are dying under our watch, we have to do better.”