Protests and Demonstrations

[Photos] Westboro Baptist Church Protests the Southern Baptist Convention. This Should Be Fun

In the world of protestors, there are the revolutionary type (Arab Spring) and the pacifist/sit-in type (Occupy Wall Street), and then you have the bat-shit crazy, inappropriate, and downright horrible type. The notorious Westboro Baptist Church falls under that last category. The hateful yet except ... More >>

Texas Activist Chains Neck to White House Fence (German Bike Locks Rock)

If you've never heard of Diane Wilson, you've probably heard about the environmentalist who poured Karo syrup on herself on the steps of the Capitol Building in Washington, D.C., to protest the BP oil spill. (That was Wilson.) Or about the one who chained herself to the Dow Chemical tower in 2002, ... More >>

Planned Parenthood's Sandra Fluke Event Forced Out of Midtown Bar Proof

Planned Parenthood's quarterly "Cocktails For A Cause" get-together last Tuesday had some extra star power -- Sandra Fluke, the Georgetown University law student famously called a slut by Rush Limbaugh for daring to speak her mind. What the event didn't have was a venue, after the bar that had agree ... More >>

God Hates Idiots: Westboro Baptist May Protest the Rockets/Thunder Game Wednesday Night

In yet another startling display of idiocy from Fred Phelps and the members of the Westboro Baptist "church," they have threatened to protest game five of the first round series between the Houston Rockets and Oklahoma City Thunder Wednesday night because Jason Collins came out as gay this week and ... More >>

Let Them Eat Cake: Chef Bruce Molzan Sends Out Pizza to Protesters

A group of 25 protesters outside Bruce Molzan's new River Oaks restaurant were faced with an unusual concession this evening. Corner Table, where the beleaguered Molzan is now head chef, sent out two pizzas to the picket line, delivered by waiters in pressed white shirts and black aprons. The prote ... More >>

Giant Dragon Descends Upon TransCanada Offices to Protest Keystone XL Pipeline! (okay, not a real dragon, but still...)

Protestors of TransCanada's Keystone XL pipeline demonstrated at the company's downtown headquarters and another building Monday, with similar protests occurring in other cities, including Westborough, Massachusetts, where students superglued themselves together in an office lobby. In Houston, demo ... More >>

Houston Janitors Call for a City-Wide Strike

Sporadic protests over the past couple months in Houston have escalated into calls for a city-wide strike, as janitors claim their managers illegally threatened and harassed them for participating in protests. Since May, janitors have been protesting to demand a higher wage from the corporations th ... More >>

''Flying Solo''

City of Houston to Vote on Charitable Feeding Ordinance

Every Sunday morning at 8:30 a.m., volunteers for Noah's Kitchen gather at Jenni's Noodle House in the Heights and begin prepping for their day ahead. Since 2010, the charity's mission has been to feed Houston's homeless one meal at a time. In their first year, Noah's Kitchen volunteers fed 5,000 p ... More >>

Occupy Houston Protesters Hit With Felony Charges For Port Incident

Stiffer charges reinstated​It seemed a little bogus when Occupy Houston protesters got hit with felony charges for their typical blocking of a street during a Port of Houston event earlier this month and, indeed, the serious charges were quickly dropped. Any celebration has been short-lived, ... More >>

Occupy Houston: Unnamed HPD Cops Reprimanded for Blacking Out Their Badge Numbers

A verbal reprimand​Police officers who intentionally concealed their identity before arresting Occupy the Port protesters Monday hardly got a spanking for deceiving the public, according to their unamused daddy, Chief of Police Charles McClelland. He admitted that several of his officers use ... More >>

Occupy Houston: Arrests Made at Port

Action this day.​The Occupy Houston protesters took to the Port of Houston today, with about 70 people showing up and several arrests made for blocking a service road, according to some estimates. HPD and the sheriff's office were out in force, including mounted patrols, and seemed to have a ... More >>

Pop Rocks: A Brief Cinematic History of Lachrymatory Agents

By now you've seen the photographs and videos from UC Davis last Friday, where brave campus police officers defended themselves from a group of seated and docile OWS protestors the only way their extended law enforcement training would allow: by dousing them in pepper spray. The chancellor of the ... More >>

Pop Rocks: A Cinematic History of Pepper Spray

By now you've seen the photographs and videos from UC Davis last Friday, where brave campus police officers defended themselves from a group of seated and docile OWS protestors the only way their extended law enforcement training would allow: by dousing them in pepper spray. The chancellor of the ... More >>

Occupy Houston: Some Arrests Made As Traffic Is Blocked

Screencap from KTRK​Above is a screencap from KTRK's helicopter coverage of an Occupy Houston protest at the north end of town. Several arrests have been made, peacefully, for blocking traffic. Right now things look to be relatively calm. Occupy Wall Street protests have heated up in other ... More >>

Police Arrest Occupy Houston Participants (With Video)

​Occupy Houston and the Houston Police Department have confirmed that a number of arrests took place last night at Tranquility Park during an Occupy Houston protest, though the number remains in question. According to Occupy Houston, ten protesters were detained by HPD officers at approximate ... More >>

Of Ghost Peppers and Cristal: The Dudebro as Self-Parody

The video above was making the rounds on the Internet earlier this week under such headlines as "Dudebro chugs entire bottle of Cristal." I was recovering from a bout of food poisoning on Monday and couldn't bring myself to watch something so intentionally nauseating, so I didn't view the video in ... More >>

Professor Bun B Visits The OccupyHouston Protesters: "There's Strength In Numbers"

Photos by RizohBun B (left) with protestors at the Occupy Houston demonstration in front of city hall Tuesday.​If Occupy Wall Street was a song, it's sounding like a global hit right now. The movement continues to proliferate, with factions popping up in over 70 cities, including Boston, Chica ... More >>

Occupy Wall Street: 99 Percent Protesters March to City Hall for Occupy Houston

See lots more pics of the protest in our slideshow. Joining a movement of protests across the country, several hundred Houstonians gathered at Market Square Park this morning to march to Hermann Square in front of City Hall, which they plan to occupy indefinitely in solidarity with the Occupy Wall ... More >>

What's the Opposite of Homosexuality? "Holysexuality," Says "Pray the Gay Away" Group

Photo by Mandy OaklanderProtesters say you can't pray gay away.​Outside of the Sugar Creek Baptist Church on Saturday afternoon, about 70 protesters lined the service road waving rainbow signs. Cars honked along with their chants of "We are holy, we are queer!" A dozen protesters were students ... More >>

Prayerapalooza: The Response At Reliant Stadium With Rick Perry And A Packed House

GroovehouseGovernor Rick Perry leads Reliant Stadium in prayer on Saturday morning. ​Our country's credit rating was downgraded just less than a day before The Response event at Reliant Stadium opened its doors. The world is scary and getting more so by the day. People are afraid of the future ... More >>

Houston's NORML Chapter Pees on the DEA in Protest

It's not likely to rank up there with the great protests of all time, but it has been documented forever. Members of the Houston chapter of NORML gathered outside the regional offices of the Drug Enforcement Agency yesterday to protest what they say is the agency's habit of killing pets while makin ... More >>

Comment of the Day: Burning Lady Edition

​Jus' Mac seems to have a few fans, including one Christopher Keeble, who really, really disagreed with the mac and cheese establishment's inclusion in Katharine Shilcutt's "Most Disappointing Restaurant Openings of 2010" blog entry, writing, "I don't have enough words to say how wrong the Pre ... More >>

Flying Fur: PETA Members to Protest on Black Friday

Don't expect hot, naked protesters on Friday. Think about it if you like, but don't expect it.​When you are out picking up some toys for the tikes at the Galleria this Friday, you might see something besides chubby Santas and frustrated holiday shoppers. You might catch anti-fur protesters. A ... More >>

Abortion Wars: "40 Days For Life" Vs. Planned Parenthood Is Quiet So Far

Photos by Paula BeltránMostly quiet at the "abortion supercenter"​Depending on who you ask, 40 Days of Harassment or 40 Days For Life have been in full swing since September 22, with anti-choice groups gathering outside Planned Parenthood clinics to protest their abortion services all over the na ... More >>

KTRU Protest Draws Staff, Students From Both Universities

Photos by Brittanie Shey​At least 100 staff, students, alumni and music fans from Rice University, the University of Houston and Rice's student-run radio station KTRU gathered on the Rice campus this afternoon to protest the sale of the station to the University of Houston. Houston Press firs ... More >>

KTRU Protest Draws Staff, Students From Both Universities

Photos by Brittanie Shey​At least 100 staff, students, alumni and music fans from Rice University, the University of Houston and Rice's student-run radio station KTRU gathered on the Rice campus this afternoon to protest the sale of the station to the University of Houston. Houston Press firs ... More >>

Chevron Protests Result In Arrests Downtown

Photo by Liana Lopez Carted away in comfort​ At least four protesters were arrested this morning at a demonstration outside a Chevron shareholders' meeting downtown. The protesters moved past temporary police barricades and sat on the ground after they were refused entrance into the buildin ... More >>

Un Pueblo Unido: Scenes From Houston's Immigration Protest

Photos by Katharine Shilcutt​An estimated 7,000 people took to the streets of Gulfton on Saturday afternoon, part of a coordinated series of national protests against the passage of Arizona's SB 1070, a bill which many Hispanics in Arizona and across the nation have decried as racial profil ... More >>

They Came, They Saw, They Protested....A Not-Yet-Opened Planned Parenthood Office

Photos by Paul Knight​The enormous crowd in the parking lot of the Catholic Charismatic Center, just south of downtown, began to thin out at about noon as people headed for the streets, or school buses, to make their way across I-45 to protest the opening of a Planned Parenthood clinic (it hasn't ... More >>

Planned Parenthood Director Becomes an Anti-Abortionist Protester

​This just in from Bryan, TX: Abby Johnson, the very recently former director of Planned Parenthood in that city, is now a protester outside the facility. In an interview filmed by KBTX - TV, Channel 3, Johnson said she'd had a change of heart after viewing an ultrasound and can no longer sup ... More >>

Port Arthur Environmental Group Says, "Bring On The Sarin Gas!!"

It's tough enough being an environmental group in Port Arthur. It's kind of being anti-gay in Key West: You're not going to eradicate it all.But it's also not every day when you announced that you're fine with the feds bringing in chemical-warfare waste to your town.That's what Hilton Kelley, direct ... More >>

No W. Screenings For Houston Critics

Downtown Action: Protesting the Demolition of Public Housing in New Orleans

Drenched In Blog: El DeBarge Arrested? Somebody Notify Steve Guttenberg

Hunger Buster

We're Not Buying It

Hell to the Chief!

Today in Public Semi-Nudity

Such Nice Kids

Immigration protests put HISD in a bind

Crossing Lines

A Houston teenager learns how convictions can lead to convictions

Horse Shoed

HPD loses its cool at the Halliburton demonstration

Getting Hammered

Uncle Sam has his way with DeLay

Clash Course

Warriors of the right take their battle against the left to the streets of New York

Hair and Now

TUTS's version of the hippie musical parties like it's 1968

Die Like an Eagle

Michael Franti and friends fight the hawks with hits

Peace Signs

Third–generation activist Luchita Rodriguez and her friends find the missing rally bus — and a fresh, family-style fight against war in Iraq

She Doth Protest Too Much?

A veteran activist says police targeted her for jail

Death Row Goes on a Hunger Strike

But does anyone care?

Lost in the Cause

In the early 1960s, Eldrewey Stearns was a powerful force for integration in a segregated society. Then he forgot his way, and history forgot him. Until, that is, he met writer Thomas R. Cole.