Previously: May Day Protesters Reoccupy 888 Turk
10:12 PM: Officers in riot gear withdrew from their position in front of a building in San Francisco that is being occupied by protesters after facing off with activists for several hours.
Officers arrested two protesters during today’s demonstration at 888 Turk St., police said.
Jesse Nesbitt, 34, of San Francisco was arrested after he allegedly threw bricks and other projectiles from the roof of the building at around 5:45 p.m., police Sgt. Michael Andraychak said.
One of the bricks missed a police officer and struck a protester, who refused medical attention, and another projectile damaged a police vehicle, Andraychak said.
Nesbitt is facing charges of aggravated assault, aggravated assault of a police officer and felony vandalism, police said.
Another protester, Adam Delia, 24, was cited and released on suspicion of being a pedestrian in the roadway and disobeying a traffic officer, Andraychak said.
Police said Delia went into the street and tried to pick up a piece of brick that had been thrown from the roof.
Earlier this evening a handful of protestors sat cross-legged between police lines and the front of the building, while other protestors remained inside the building and in Jefferson Square Park, across the street.
By around 7 p.m. protesters remained inside the building and three males and one female were on the roofs of 888 Turk St. and a nearby building on Gough Street, the St. Paul’s Lutheran Evangelical Day School, drinking beer, smoking cigarettes and singing into a bullhorn.
At around 7:30 p.m. police withdrew from the front of the building and continued to monitor the situation.
The occupation began when protesters who had gathered for a noon rally at Market and Montgomery streets downtown marched to 888 Turk St. afterward and began entering the building shortly before 3 p.m.
The building is the same site, owned by the Archdiocese of San Francisco, that was taken over by protesters on April 1.
Andraychak said earlier today that the protesters were trespassing on private property.
“We’ve been in touch with the folks at the archdiocese,” he said.
Protesters removed a large wire fence in front of the building and activists streamed into the building this afternoon, holding banners and signs reading “May Day, Never Surrender” and “SF Commune.”
6:31 PM: Police in riot gear are facing off with dozens of protesters who occupied a building in San Francisco today.
Officers armed with non-lethal pellet or bean bag guns were aiming them at a protester who was throwing objects from the roof of the building, located at 888 Turk St.
The protester, dressed in black with a handkerchief covering his face, was throwing what appeared to be bricks and metal rods into the crowd of demonstrators, reporters, and police.
At least one person in the crowd appears to have been struck by one of the thrown objects.
The occupation began when protesters who had gathered for a noon rally at Market and Montgomery streets downtown marched to 888 Turk St. afterward and began entering the building shortly before 3 p.m.
The building is the same site, owned by the Archdiocese of San Francisco, that was taken over by protesters on April 1.
Protesters removed a large wire fence in front of the building and activists streamed into the building this afternoon, holding banners and signs reading “May Day, Never Surrender” and “SF Commune.”
California State University East Bay student Erik Carson, 26, of San Francisco said he was there to support the Occupy movement.
“I don’t believe anyone should be denied the right to housing,” he said.
Police Sgt. Mike Andraychak said earlier today that the protesters were trespassing on private property.
“We’ve been in touch with the folks at the archdiocese. We’re in communication with them right now,” Andraychak said.
Two buses filled with officers in riot gear arrived at the building at around 4:30 p.m. and dozens of officers have mobilized in front of the building.
At least two protesters outside the building have been detained.
Elsewhere: Bizarre development: Lone guy in black mask throws bricks at Occupy crowd [SFBG]
Bricks, pipes thrown from occupied SF building [Chron]
888 Turk Raided? [IndyBay]
Policce leave, Occupiers remain [SFBG]
Occupy SF Re-Occupies 888 Turk, Protester Antagonizing Police From Nearby Rooftop [SFist]
Bricks, pipes thrown from occupied SF building [Chron]
Occupy Strikes Back: Revenge of the SF Commune [IndyBay]
Hannah Albarazi, Bay City News
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