11 arrested after benefit party for UC/SFSU student protesters gets violent

S.F. benefit dance turns violent - 11 arrested
Nanette Asimov, San Francisco Chronicle
February 1, 2010

A dance party to raise money for the legal defense of student protesters turned violent in San Francisco early Sunday morning, as police arrested 11 people at a building South of Market.

Ten people were cited and released for misdemeanors, including public drunkenness, said Officer Samson Chan of the San Francisco Police Department.

A 23-year-old man remains in jail after police said he threw a large M-80 firecracker, barely missing an officer. He faces felony charges of aggravated assault.

Police went to 154 Seventh St. around 1 a.m. after neighbors complained of noise, Chan said, and the fire marshal couldn't get inside the party attended by several hundred.

When some started throwing bottles and firecrackers, "there was no other choice but to make sure this party was stopped," he said.

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The party began as a way to raise cash for legal help needed by protesters arrested last fall at San Francisco State University and campuses of the University of California, where students occupied buildings to protest tuition increases and layoffs.

Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/02/01/BAQ81BQGPC.DTL