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发帖数: 8734 | 1 http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2011/08/15/MNG
BART closes Civic Center, Powell stations
(08-15) 18:06 PDT SAN FRANCISCO -- BART has closed the Civic Center, Powell
and Montgomery stations in downtown San Francisco after about 75 protesters
gathered on the Civic Center platform to express anger over the transit agen
cy's decision to cut underground cellular phone service for three hours Thur
sday evening in an effort to quell a protest.
The Muni Metro stations at the same locations were also closed. Both Muni an
d BART trains are still running through the stations, only allowing passenge
rs to exit the trains but not picking up passengers. In addition, shuttle bu
ses are providing service on the Powell Street portion of the Powell-Mason a
nd Powell-Hyde cable car lines.
BART police closed the Civic Center station at 5:25 p.m., after at least one
protester blocked a door of a Dublin-Pleasanton train for two minutes as ot
hers chanted "No justice, no peace." The train continued west, and a dispers
al order was soon issued.
Police shut shown the Powell Station, just a few blocks west, roughly 15 min
utes later, saying protesters were moving in that direction. The Montgomery
station was closed just before 6 p.m., after protesters reversed course and
marched east along Market Street.
"Once we got to a situation where the BART platform was unsafe, we cleared t
he station," said BART Deputy Police Chief Daniel Hartwig, referring to the
first closure. "We cannot jeopardize the safety of the patrons or the employ
ees here."
The protest began at 5 p.m. One protester, holding an old-fashioned phone wi
th the cord cut, repeated over and over, "Can you hear me now?" Others held
sings that said "free speech" and "free expression," chanted slogans and wro
te messages on heart-shaped construction paper.
Shalana Turner held a sign that said, "You can jail the revolutionary, you c
annot jail the revolution." She said, "I'm here in peaceful protest, to prot
est police brutality, attempts to restrict free speech."
Nearby, a man named Robert, who refused to give his last name, said he was p
rotesting the protest. The 48-year-old San Francisco resident had a sign rea
ding, "Interrupted Cell Service = Giant Hissy Fit."
"They are diluting their potential for doing something useful," the man said
of the protesters. "This is going after the ants. They need to go after the
giants."
BART had not cut cell service at the time it closed the station.
Linton Johnson, a BART spokesman, said earlier today that the agency hoped f
or a peaceful protest outside of the fare gates, but may be forced to shut d
own stations or divert riders to other modes of transportation.
He said it was also possible that BART would again cut cell-phone service, a
long with Wi-Fi service, in some areas.
Johnson said riders "don't have the right to free speech inside the fare gat
es." BART's cutoff of cell-phone service Thursday in anticipation of a possi
ble protest, he said, represented a "minor inconvenience" to customers.
Riders' safety, he said, was threatened by protesters upset over a BART poli
ce officer's fatal shooting of a knife-wielding man July 3.
"We're in the business of transporting people from point A to point B safely
," Johnson said. "We were forced into a gut-wrenching decision on how we wer
e going to stop (the possible Thursday protest), given the propensity of thi
s group to create chaos on the platform."
Activists angered by the police shooting of Charles Blair Hill disrupted ser
vice during a protest July 11 that started at Civic Center Station and sprea
d to the 16th Street Mission and Powell Street stations. BART closed all thr
ee stations for varying lengths of time and ran trains through them without
stopping.
BART shut down cell service Thursday at four downtown San Francisco stations
, Johnson said. The agency did not jam cell signals, which is illegal, but s
hut off the system - which Johnson said is allowable under an agreement with
several major phone service providers that pay rent to BART.
Lynette Sweet, a member of BART's Board of Directors, said today that she op
posed any further disruption of cell service and would seek to bring the iss
ue before the board for a vote.
"This is one where we can almost say we're stuck on stupid," Sweet said. "We
put ourselves on the radar screen for no good reason. This is a country tha
t champions civil liberties all the time. So why would a transit agency take
it upon themselves to trample on civil liberties?"
She added, "We can't say, 'We only want you to talk when we want you to talk
.' "
The Federal Communications Commission is looking into BART's action. In a st
atement today, spokesman Neil Grace said, "Any time communications services
are interrupted, we seek to assess the situation. We are continuing to colle
ct information about BART's actions and will be taking steps to hear from st
akeholders about the important issues those actions raised, including protec
ting public safety and ensuring the availability of communications networks.
"
Today's protest was called by a loose-knit group of hackers known as Anonymo
us, who call themselves fighters for free expression. On Sunday, the hackers
breached a BART website and released personal information from more than 2,
000 customers.
The hackers took information from myBART.org, a site run by an outside vendo
r, and published it on another website. The leak contained names and passwor
ds of people who use the myBART service, which notifies riders of contests,
discounts and events. In many cases, addresses and phone numbers were publis
hed as well.
"We are Anonymous, we are your citizens, we are the people, we do not tolera
te oppression from any government agency," the hackers wrote in an online po
sting.
Johnson said the FBI was investigating the hack attack.
BART is asking riders to keep track of possible delays tonight. For regional
travel information, go to 511.org or call 511. Information will be posted a
t BART.gov, facebook.com/bartsf and on Twitter at @SFBART.
To receive updates by text message, text "BART service" to 878787.
Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2011/08/15/MNGT1
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