San Francisco - BART demonstration Powell St Sep 8

Demonstrators plan to be at Powell St BART at 5 PM Thursday. They have indicated they will not inconvenience pax and will move if BART officials close the station.

More HERE

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2011/09/06/BAP71L0IKI.DTL

Demonstrators plan to be at Powell St BART at 5 PM Thursday. They have indicated they will not inconvenience pax and will move if BART officials close the station.

More HERE

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2011/09/06/BAP71L0IKI.DTL

"not inconveniencing pax" and "will move if BART officials close the station" seem to be conflicting ideas, no?

If your intent is to block the fares gates, and have BART just let everyone in for free (or out for free), I can't see how you can't inconvenience passengers. If you have a Clipper card you just can't walk in or out without scanning the card. I don't know what happens in that case but I'd think you'd be charged the maximum BART fare (think Millbrae to Pittsburg or Dublin) or you might even need human intervention to reset your card so you can use it again. Can you see a hundred passengers trying to get out at Walnut Creek 45 minutes later with Clipper cards that don't work? They're not going to be too happy.

Block the fare gates, get arrested. That works for me.

From the coverage I've seen the last few weeks I don't think there is a single spokesperson for this group to believe anything they say to the press.

Block the fare gates, get arrested. That works for me.



I agree. I hope BART officials take a hard line stance and have all of them arrested, and then push for the fullest prosecution available.

"not inconveniencing pax" and "will move if BART officials close the station" seem to be conflicting ideas, no?

+1

I don't mind a protest, but there's no reason to disrupt the pax going to/from work.

....Block the fare gates, get arrested. That works for me.....Works for me as well ^. Once told "this is an unlawful assembly...." you have been given fare warning so afaic, too bad so sad

... you have been given fare warning so afaic, too bad so sad :D

outcome:
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2011/09/09/BARM1L2LP1.DTL

From the coverage I've seen the last few weeks I don't think there is a single spokesperson for this group to believe anything they say to the press.

There was an article recently about how arrest records show that these are largely professional protesters. They live for this sort of thing, and the particular issue is just an excuse to get out there are cause some chaos.

If you think about, their tactics make no sense whatsoever. Lots of BART passengers were already troubled by the shooting that led to these protests. Yet I doubt very much that they appreciated having to endure the protesters' shutdown. They just wanted to get home. Likewise, those undecided about the shooting were probably really put off by the obnoxiousness of the protesters.

The common refrain from a strong majority is protest and demonstrate -- that's your right. But don't shut down vital public transit. That's not your right, and it is wrong.

There was an article recently about how arrest records show that these are largely professional protesters. They live for this sort of thing, and the particular issue is just an excuse to get out there are cause some chaos.

If you think about, their tactics make no sense whatsoever. Lots of BART passengers were already troubled by the shooting that led to these protests. Yet I doubt very much that they appreciated having to endure the protesters' shutdown. They just wanted to get home. Likewise, those undecided about the shooting were probably really put off by the obnoxiousness of the protesters.

The common refrain from a strong majority is protest and demonstrate -- that's your right. But don't shut down vital public transit. That's not your right, and it is wrong.

Agreed, but Bart has really not done anything to help the situation. The police apparently detained several journalists (Chronicle journalists, not just the professional protesters who call themselves journalists). The Bart spokesperson also recently made a public statement to the effect of "the first amendment does not apply in a Bart station," which is both wrong and clearly inflammatory to many people who may not be on the side of protesters. Bart seems to be doing everything it can to keep this nonsense going.