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According to the San Francisco Chronicle, on November 15, 2019, four individuals - J. Lasota (Ziz), Gwen Danielson, Emma Borhanian, and Somni Leatham - staged a protest at Westminster Woods in Occidental against the Center for Applied Rationality (CFAR). Police spokeswoman Misti Wood confirmed to the Chronicle that the protesters arrived in multiple vehicles including a box truck, shuttle bus, and Toyota Prius, which they used to block the entrance and exit to the venue. The police incident report describes them wearing black-hooded robes and Guy Fawkes masks, with some carrying walkie-talkies, a body camera, and pepper spray.

Police Response

The incident report states that staff reported a possible person with a gun at the rural conference center. Though no weapon was found according to Wood's statement to the Chronicle, this report triggered a significant law enforcement response, including SWAT teams, an armored vehicle, and a helicopter. The Chronicle reports that approximately two dozen children who were on the ropes course had to be sheltered in an armored police vehicle, while the incident shut down a stretch of the Bohemian Highway.

Arrests and Charges

According to the Press Democrat, all four protesters were arrested on initial charges including felony child endangerment, false imprisonment, and conspiracy, along with misdemeanor counts of resisting arrest, wearing a mask while committing a crime, and trespassing. Sheriff's spokeswoman Wood told the Chronicle that the protesters were uncooperative during their arrest, requiring authorities to use fingerprints for identification. The incident report also notes that a fifth individual claiming to be a journalist was briefly detained but released after police determined he had not committed any crimes.

Allegations of Police Misconduct

In a subsequent blog post, Gwen Danielson alleged significant police misconduct during the arrests, including claims of sexual assault, intentional medical harm, and denial of basic needs such as food, water, and legal representation. Danielson's account claimed that police had unnecessarily escalated the situation and caused psychological harm to children present at the scene.

Legal Resolution and CFAR's Response

The Press Democrat reported that by November 19, 2019, the Sonoma County District Attorney's Office had reduced some of the charges from felonies to misdemeanors, leading to a reduction in bail from $50,000 to $10,000 for some of the defendants. According to the same report, Emma Borhanian was the first to post bail with family assistance, followed by Danielson and Lasota after their bail was lowered.

In a statement to the Chronicle, CFAR confirmed that two of the individuals had previously been asked not to attend their events due to "prior erratic behavior," and deputies found flyers at the scene indicating the protest targeted both CFAR and the Machine Intelligence Research Institute (MIRI).

Broader Context

According to reporting by Open Vallejo, this protest would later be recognized as an early public action by what became known as the "Zizians." The San Francisco Chronicle writes that this group would later be connected to several violent incidents across the country, including deaths in California, Pennsylvania, and Vermont between 2022 and 2025.

Prior to the protest, court records show that LaSota had sent a mass email to CFAR and MIRI members at 3:36 AM, accusing the organizations of various ethical breaches and warning recipients that "If you do not want to die with this plague consuming our world, then turn your hopes back to the hard-to-define things that generated these institutions that no longer deserve them."

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Westminster Woods Protest