Protests against Google and Apple in Oakland and San Francisco

There is a growing tension between the communities and the tech industries in San Francisco and Oakland.
There were three bus protests in all - two Google buses in Oakland and one Apple Bus in San Francisco. The protesters are upset with the rising rents due to highly paid tech workers moving into the city which resulted in blocking the buses shuttling employees to and from Silicon Valley offices to their San Francisco and Oakland homes.

In Oakland, protesters attacked a Google bus on Friday smashing a window and distributing fliers reading "Get the fuck out of Oakland" to Google employees on board. 

And in San Francisco, demonstrators blocked an Apple bus, holding signs and even carrying a wooden coffin bearing the message "Affordable housing."

"We want the ruling class, which is becoming the tech class, to listen to our voices and listen to the voices of folks that are being displaced," said one San Francisco protester.

A similar incident took last week where some of the San Francisco activists protested another tech industry bus at the same street corner, where a man posing as a Googler who turned out to be fake, shouting rage-baiting condemnations of the protest, like, "You can't afford it? Then leave." The video went viral, and though he was a fake tech worker, it speaks to the growing sentiment about the wealth disparity in the Bay Area.Adding to the resentment is the fact that the buses pick up passengers at stops designated for the city's official public transportation without paying the city. 

San Francisco mayor Ed Lee disagrees that the tech industry is the problem. "People, stop blaming tech, tech companies. They want to work on a solution," he told the San Francisco Bay Guardian earlier this week. "I think it's unfortunate that some voices want to pit one economic sector they view as successful against the rest of our challenge. The reality is they're only eight percent of our economy."

But while the non-Valley public starts to push back against the tech elite, there are signs that the tech elite are feeling isolated themselves.