SOUTH SAN FRANCISCO — A man who accosted pro-Palestinian protesters two years ago in South San Francisco will serve a month behind bars after he pleaded no contest to felony battery and admitted to a hate crime allegation, prosecutors said.
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Kent Edward Keenan, 59, of South San Francisco, entered his plea Tuesday and was sentenced to 30 days in county jail, according to the San Mateo County District Attorney’s Office. The court also placed him on two years of supervised probation.
The incident happened during a peaceful ceasefire rally outside the South San Francisco Public Library on April 10, 2024, prosecutors said. Angered by the demonstration, Keenan first screamed at the protesters and then spit in the face of one.
Keenan also threatened two other protesters, telling them, “I’m going to kill all you Palestinians” and “I want all you people dead; bomb Palestine,” according to prosecutors.
Keenan is set to begin serving his jail term Sept. 5. He has three days’ credit for time served.
District Attorney Steve Wagstaffe said he was pleased with the outcome of the case.
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“We wanted to make it clear that such conduct is completely unacceptable and we will always seek to convict and punish people who engage in such conduct,” he said.
The San Francisco Bay Area office of the Council on American-Islamic Relations also welcomed the sentence.
“Threatening to kill Palestinians, spitting on a protester and trying to intimidate people out of calling for a ceasefire is not protected speech,” CAIR-SFBA Director Zahra Billoo said in a statement. “It is hate, and we welcome this plea and sentencing as an important measure of accountability.”
Billoo also thanked the organizers of the rally, Change SSF, for documenting Keenan’s actions, as well as the prosecutors who “treated these threats with the seriousness they deserved.”
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