BART Protest: Station Closures and Dozens of Arrests

Update 10:20 p.m.

Police arrested at least 30 to 40 demonstrators during protests that originated at the Civic Center BART station and then led police back and forth through downtown San Francisco, drawing traffic to a standstill and closing two BART stations at several points throughout the evening.

A few dozen protesters gathered on the Civic Center BART platform at 5 p.m. BART quickly closed the station when protests began, arresting several protesters that raised their voices, declaring it was illegal to protest on the BART platform.

The protesters chose the platform to gather because Charles Hill was killed there by a BART police officer on July 3, after Hill allegedly attacked the officer with a knife. The shooting set off a string of protests that have shut down San Francisco BART stations three times since then.

After being ordered to leave the station, demonstrators moved to the street, joining with other protesters already there, and 50-60 started marching east on Market Street. They blocked traffic, yelling "No justice, no peace!" and "Hey BART, what do you say, how many kids did you kill today?"

Police on foot escorted the protesters on either side, directing traffic with motorcycles in front of the march, and police cars in the rear. When protesters arrived at the Ferry Building at Embarcadero Plaza, they demanded to be let into the building.

Police blocked protesters from entering, while employees peered out at the unruly mob. Some demonstrators wore masks, others carried signs against censorship and police brutality, and two even protested naked.

Shortly after, protesters turned around to march back west on Market Street. The protest grew as they marched, and at certain points there were more than 100 demonstrators.

They marched to United Nations Plaza, outside the Civic Center BART station, where they briefly gathered in the plaza around a portable radio playing dance music. A handful of protesters then blocked Market Street outside the plaza, between Seventh and Eighth streets. Police then announced the demonstration on Market Street was illegal, as it blocked traffic in both directions, even holding up a San Francisco Municipal Railway train proceeding west on Market Street.

Police made several arrests as they tried to push the crowd back onto the sidewalk. Protesters set off firecrackers and pushed police lines, but were eventually corralled back onto the sidewalk. Protesters then took off east again, this time running at times to stay ahead of police, lighting smoke bombs and throwing them into the street, and overturning garbage cans.

Protesters darted in and out of the streets, running to avoid police, before reconvening and marching nearly to Montgomery Street. They turned around before reaching Montgomery Street, heading back west.

At the corner of Market and Fourth streets, police attempted to disrupt protesters by forming a line and demanding protesters return to the sidewalk. At least one protester was arrested, held down by several police as he lay on his stomach in the middle of the busy intersection. Protesters were scattered between the corners, yelling at police that held them on the sidewalk.

A group of about 40 protesters reconvened west of the police lines and started marching west on Market Street again, blocking traffic without a police escort. More demonstrators used garbage cans to block traffic and threw firecrackers into the street.

At Grove Street the demonstrators turned right, and some shouted that they were marching to City Hall. But police formed a line at Larkin Street, and used batons to force protesters onto the sidewalk, knocking several to the pavement.

About 40 protesters and some members of the media were detained in an encirclement of police on Grove Street between Market Street and Larkin Street. As of 9 p.m., police were still in the process of making arrests. The protests forced the closure of the Civic Center and Powell Street stations at several points throughout the evening.

ivic Center was closed for a total of two hours and 36 minutes and Powell Street for a total of one hour and 38 minutes, according to BART. Tonight marks the third time since July 11 that protests caused station closures during rush hour in San Francisco.

On July 11, the group No Justice, No BART organized a protest in response to the BART police shooting of Hill. During that demonstration, protesters blocked train doors to prevent them from leaving the station, resulting in the closure of three San Francisco BART stations.

On Aug. 11, BART said it had intelligence that another more disruptive protest was being planned and shut down cellphone service in several stations to prevent protesters from communicating in stations and tunnels.

That protest failed to materialize, leading BART spokesman Linton Johnson to declare the precaution was successful in disrupting the protest. But blocking cellphone service has drawn more attention to BART. Civil rights groups have blasted BART for the unusual tactic, calling it illegal and unconstitutional.

The hacker protest group "Anonymous" reacted angrily, and called on their loose collective of members to hack BART websites, flood BART offices with emails, faxes and phone calls, and called for another protest on Aug. 15.

That protest shut down all four downtown San Francisco BART stations, leaving commuters trapped outside of locked gates. BART has continued to defend the decision to block cellphone service, most recently in a letter to BART customers Saturday explaining the service disruptions and stressing that stopping cellphone service was necessary to ensure safety on the platform.

BART's defense has not stopped criticism of the agency, however. Today the National Lawyers Guild released its own statement condemning BART's actions as unconstitutional.

"The BART decision to terminate cellphone service during public protests is an unconstitutional prior restraint on free speech precisely designed to censor criticism of the deadly use of force by BART police," the statement said.

- Bay City News

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Update 8:40 p.m.

All downtown San Francisco BART station are now open, according to BART officials.

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Update 8:30 p.m.

The Powell Street station has reopened, while Civic Center is still closed.

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Update 8:20 p.m.

Officials have closed Civic Center station again, and the Powell Street station also remains closed.

Demonstrators continue to protest on Market Street tonight.

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Update 8:10 p.m.

Civic Center station has reopened, but the Powell Street station remains closed. About 50 protesters are headed to the Powell station, according to BART officials.

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Update 7:45 p.m.

Civic Center and Powell Street stations are closed.

BART officials have closed and reopend Powell and Civic Center stations several times. Protesters are marching along Market Street in downtown San Francisco, and BART police reports that some protesters are setting off fireworks and knocking over garbage cans.

The protesters gathered near UN Plaza on Market Street and blocked traffic in both directions for about 20 minutes, during which time at least four demonstrators were arrested.

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Update 7:25 p.m.

The Powell Street Station has reopened, but Civic Center is still closed.

Protesters are blocking Market Street traffic in both directions near UN Plaza while chanting "Whose streets? Our streets."

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Update 6:55 p.m.

BART officials are intermittently closing Powell Street and Civic Center staions as protesters march up and down Market Street in downtown San Francisco.

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Update 6:35 p.m.

BART Officials have closed the Civic Center station again, but the Powell Street station has been reopened.

After marching down Market Street, a large group of protesters gathered in front of the Ferry Building on the Embarcadero and chanted "Let us in." Police blocked the demonstrators from entering the building and the group began to march back the way they had come on Market Street, heading toward the Civic Center station.

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Update 6:20 p.m.

All San Francisco downtown BART stations are now open after police closed both the Civic Center and Powell Street BART stations due to protests.

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Update 6:10 p.m.

The Powell Street BART station has reopened after it was shut down about 30 minutes ago.

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Update 5:50 p.m.

In addition to the Civic Center station, which was shut down at approximately 5:30 p.m, the Powell Steet station is now also closed.

Protesters left Civic Center station at around 5:30 p.m. when BART closed the station and walked along Market Street towards the Embarcadero, blocking traffic in some areas along the way. Some of the demonstrators attempted to enter Powell Street station but the entrance was blocked. 

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BART police have just announced that the BART Civic Center Station is being shut down due to protests.

At least two protesters have been arrested within the first ten minutes of a demonstration at BART's Civic Center station in San Francisco this evening.

A handful of protesters gathered at the station's platform shortly before 5 p.m. in response to the fatal shooting of Charles Hill by BART police on July 3 and BART's subsequent decision to shut down cell phone service to disrupt a protest planned for August 11.

BART police in riot gear and transit agency employees were also on the platform as the planned protest began. At least one man and one woman have been arrested.

The man who was detained said that police told him that if he raised his voice he would be arrested. The man then began to chant and yell and was detained by officers.

A shouting match also broke out between a commuter and protester. Officers and fellow protesters intervened and the altercation ended peacefully.

Bay City News contributed to this report.