9:12 PM: According to IndyBay, at least 17 have been arrested on Powell Street, including “one person in a wheelchair and a Bay City News reporter.”
Mission Local and Bay City News says the number arrested so far is 35 (and, no, they don’t say if anyone from their camp is now wearing zip ties).
Police spokesman Office Albie Esparza said that police announced an unlawful assembly at about 7:45 p.m. and that approximately 35 protesters were arrested, they say.
During the protest, a CBS cameraman was assaulted, and Esparza said an arrest was also made in that incident.
Esparza said that those arrested would be cited for failure to disperse after an unlawful assembly was declared.
Roberts says it’s not over yet, however, saying that there are “about 30 cops facing off with roughly double the amount” of protesters.
8:38 PM: According to Roberts, the demonstration has quieted down significantly, with only 15 or 20 protestors still in the SFPD encirclement near Powell and Ellis.
One woman in the police circle, he says has been calling “Help us out! Help us out!” to the crowd, to, apparently, no avail, as SFPD continues to make arrests.
8:19 PM: SFPD is “slowly arresting” the protestors who have not dispersed, “one by one” Roberts (who sent the pictures you see above and below) says.
At least five have been arrested, he says, and many more people are watching the events unfold — 75 on the Powell Station side of the encirclement of protesters, he says, and “many more” on the Ellis/Union Square side.
According to the SFMTA, “as of 8 p.m., after brief disruptions by the protest at Castro, Van Ness, Civic Center and Powell Muni Metro stations, all Metro stations are open.
The F Market and Wharves historic streetcar line is operating only on the Embarcadero. Market Street bus routes continue in service.
The Powell Street portion of the cable car lines continues to be served by Muni bus shuttles.”
8:02 PM: According to Roberts, SFPD is poised to begin making arrests.
“30 to arrest came over the SFPD radio,” he said, and police “have the zip cuffs out and the arrest van open.”
7:48 PM: According to Chris Roberts, SFPD has cordoned off several of the demonstration participants near the cable car turnaround, and are now asking them to disperse or be arrested.
A “big scrum” of protesters are “blocking the cable car turnaround” Roberts said, and amid shouts of “let them go…about 20 kids have been caught by an SFPD encirclement in front of Blondies Pizza.”
SFPD is now reading the unlawful assembly order, Roberts says, saying that anyone who blocks traffic will be arrested, and asking the protesters to disperse.
7:28 PM: According to Bay City News, the protesters headed toward downtown and were marching east down Market Street toward the Civic Center station as of 7:15 p.m.
Market Street was mostly blocked in the area by a combination of the protesters and police.
The Appeal’s Chris Roberts, who is following the protesters, was told by an SFMTA representative at Van Ness station that Civic Center station had been closed, but we haven’t been able to confirm. Appeal twitter follower “3dollarbilly” also says “Muni trains aren’t stopping” at Van Ness station.
7:04 PM: According to Bay City News, after the demonstration left Castro station (which as of 7 PM was open), they marched past Dolores Park to the Police Department’s Mission Station at 17th and Valencia streets.
One person threw a hammer at the station’s window but failed to cause any damage. Another attempted to splash the station in paint, and a third dropped a smoke bomb.
As of 7 p.m., the protesters were marching north down Mission Street.
6:32 PM: According to Bay City News, a group of about 150 protesters who gathered at San Francisco’s Dolores Park tonight are on the move through the city’s Castro District.
The group departed the park at 6 p.m. and traveled west on 18th Street before turning right on Church Street.
Some of the protesters carried a banner reading “They can’t shoot us all,” and others chanted, “How do you spell murder? S-F-P-D.”
About two dozen police officers on foot and motorcycles, as well as in SUVs, were corralling the crowd as they marched through the Castro and blocked the group’s path down Church Street.
The group changed course and traveled on 17th Street to reach Market Street. First traveling toward downtown, the demonstrators, after an about face, arrived at the Muni station at Market and Castro streets.
Some of the group entered the station, where they attempted to break Muni ticket machines and overturned garbage cans. The group then exited the station to return to the streets of the Castro.
5:20 PM: A demonstration to protest both SFPD’s fatal shooting of Kenneth Harding, Jr., and BART police’s fatal shooting of Charles Hill is planned for tonight in Dolores Park, causing SFMTA to suspend cable car service in an effort to “be proactive and ensure everyone’s safety.”
Uptown Almanac noted fliers announcing a protest planned for 5 PM today in Dolores Park “against killer cops.”
While the flier specifies only that the civil action is set in Dolores Park, according to SFMTA spokesperson Paul Rose, based on the information they’ve received, the rally might move to either the 16th and Mission or Powell BART stations.
Therefore, “just in case,” the SFMTA’s opted to suspend regular service on the Powell Street portion of the Powell-Mason and Powell-Hyde cable car lines, replacing them with shuttle buses.
Rose didn’t have any additional details on how a protest might impact transit this evening, and said this move was “just a precaution.”
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