Despite a plan from protesters intended, they say, to keep BART commuters commuting, Thursday night BART police opted to close Powell Station during a demonstration outside the fare gates, in an area BART officials had previously said was fair game for civil action.
You already saw how we covered the protest, which ended in dozens of arrests, the detention of a number of journalists (including students), some press pass shenanigans, and a BART spokesperson who refused to speak.
What was everyone else’s take? Let’s see:
Powell Street Station Closed — Several Arrested [Weekly]
A concise liveblog of the action, noting (as many will) that media was blocked from covering the protest after a certain point.
BART protesters arrested – Powell Station closed [Chron]
“One Chronicle reporter and several student journalists were detained briefly,” the daily notes, saying that commuters were angry at the idea that protesters would block fare gates, but that in actuality “police in riot gear…formed a wall to block them from approaching the pay gates.”
BART Protest: 25-30 Arrested At Powell Street Station, Including Members Of The Media [HuffPo]
“According to ‘No Justice for BART’ spokeswoman Callie Maidhof, protesters didn’t block the actual gates: ‘The BART protesters never actually blocked any of the fare gates,’ she told The Huffington Post. ‘The police arrested everyone when there was only shouting.’
BART Reopens Powell Street Station; 28 Protesters Arrested [BC]
“BART police arrested 20 men and 8 women who were at the station as part of the protest.”
Students, media detained at BART protest [Golden Gate X-Press]
I love this story, because I can’t help thinking about how MY parents reacted when I got arrested my freshman year of college (sadly, not for protesting). “Members of the media, including seven SF State journalism students, were arrested and detained…Several members of the press who had been detained inside the station by police were asked to hand over SFPD-issued press passes” they report, and that’s confirmed in the video above. Welcome to the news biz, kids. It won’t always be this exciting, but you just made your bones. (Disclosure: I’m friends with the faculty advisor Justin Beck, who accompanied the students Thursday night, and made an effort to help him get his kids out of trouble last night.)
BART Police arrest journalists and protesters [SFBG]
“An attorney working with the protesters notes that mere speech doesn’t hinder operations, noting that section C of that code section specifically ‘does not prohibit picketing in the immediately adjacent area of the property of any railroad or rail transit related property or any lawful activity by which the public is informed of the existence of an alleged labor dispute.'”
Live coverage of the BART protest in San Francisco [Ex]
Yeah, I don’t know. I’m a big fan of the Ex (I really am!), and I don’t know the technical background on their website, but I’ve gotta think there’s a better way to do live on-their-website coverage of a protest than this box o a single account’s Tweets. That said, the sfexaminer_live Twitter account is fun to follow. Just not on their site.
BART Protest ‘for Commuters’ Backfires [BC]
They quote angry commuter Bruce Halperin, who also sounded off to the Chron. Surely there are more pissed commuters than Bruce? “Officers took The Bay Citizen reporter’s press credential for about half an hour.” They also quote “a protester who called himself Tony Scrumptious.” Best. Name. Ever.
Powell station shut down by BART protest [SFBG]
“iIt is clear that things did not go as planned from the perspective of either the protesters or the transit agency.” Also interesting: BART spokesperson Jim Allison basically refused to speak with the weekly, telling the Guardian reporter “I simply cannot devote the rest of my night to answering your questions.”
BART cops arrest dozens at protest in free-speech area [Ex]
“BART police and officials (made) the decision about when to arrest protesters. Though he would not respond to questions about the violation each person was arrested on, Hartwig said the crowd prevented passengers from getting through and police had to act.”
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