BART temporarily closes all downtown SF stations (protests)

Source: San Francisco Chronicle

BART temporarily closed all four downtown San Francisco stations tonight - Civic Center, Powell, Montgomery and Embarcadero - after protesters gathered on to express anger over the transit agency's decision to cut underground cellular phone service for three hours Thursday evening in an effort to quell a protest.

As of 6:30 p.m., the Civic Center, Montgomery and Embarcadero stations had reopened.

The protesters were kicked out of the Civic Center station at 5:25 p.m., then began marching toward the other stations, prompting BART to close them, one by one.

... The protest began at 5 p.m. when about 75 protesters gathered on the Civic Center station platform. BART police closed the station after at least one protester blocked a door of a Dublin-Pleasanton train for two minutes as others chanted "No justice, no peace." The train continued west, and a dispersal order was soon issued.

Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2011/08/15/MNGT1KNJU1.DTL

I understand that they provide a service, but this is starting to reach a level of sheer silliness.

Or how about the guy who climbed on top of the rail car? I do not think most people want to see that again.

and long after the protest had taken off down the street.

that is the power of civil disobediance and we need more of it not less Sorry if some people are inconvenienced, but there are bigger issues at stake here. Resisting police state tactics is essential now and I have little patience for those who value order over liberty at this crucial time in our history.
All over the world citizens are taking to the streets to demand justice and you are concerned about a little inconvenience at the Bart Station?
Join the resistance or get the hell out of the way.

and not allowing people off a train is kidnapping. No, we do NOT need more of that... we don't need ANY of that. The protesters' issue is with BART, NOT with it's innocent train riders, so not allowing innocent train riders to get to their destinations on a train or even held captive on a train is not going to win ANY sympathy and rightly should not.

If they wanted to be civilly disobedient they could refuse to leave when they were told to, etc. If they targeted the innocent train riders including kidnapping by not letting them off a train then it's not going to win them any sympathy, it's criminal and they should be in jail.

I haven't seen that reported anywhere... preventing a train from moving, yes, but the passengers could have dis-embarked.

The protestors crowded the doorways making it impossible to get off the train, as well as get on.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HsKEvd6gH0A

And some people are eating it up with a ladle.

I've decided to treat anything at all BART ever has to say in its own defense ever again with an entire quarry of salt.

Davy D made the point on Amy's show today: we know they have video, where is it? Are they hiding it again because it shows their thugs killed another helpless person?

It looks peaceful right now.

Pretty peaceful.

People have just learned to time their calls appropriately.

I'm glad to see civil disobedience.....anywhere, for that matter. Goddess knows the majority of people are getting screwed.

Eat the rich.

He's trying to protect himself.

It's not just in socialist countries....

...part of our ever increasing police state...shut up and just do what "authority" tells you to do.

I ride the train that goes North/South on the East Bay side. If this means I'm late for work, well I have no problem with that.

thatn the one over the recent BART police killing the shutdown was designed to prevent.

And I have a hunch about the shutdown.

I tend to think that the Feds were involved in the cell phone shut down. Secure Communities has been in action since last summer. I don't think the idiots at BART would do this on their own -- they open themselves up to all kinds of lawsuits and their first directive has always seemed to be, watch the liability. And the cherry on top is, the FCC says it is investigating.

Now, the FCC never does anything on its own. But here it is, promptly and assiduously "investigating" this shut down.

I just don't buy it. The Feds know that the Bay Area is an active protest/hacking hub. Plus, they looked at London and went into their war room. This shutdown meant they could test that response in real time and maybe shake loose some people they wanted in other cases, like Wikileaks/Manning/Anonymous.

How's that for a conspiracy theory and it's not even noon yet. lol

but I don't think it is working.

They are already pissed off.