San Francisco
A peaceful crowd of demonstrators disrupted the evening commute Monday, leading police through Downtown San Francisco and leading to the roving closures of all four underground BART and MUNI Metro Stations at the height of commute hour.
Thousands of transit patrons experienced delays of hours after a planned 5 p.m. protest at the Civic Center BART Station spilled out to other stations on Market Street, causing closures that lasted upwards of 90 minutes.
An international group of hackers carried out an attack against the Bay Area Rapid Transit District’s online infrastructure Sunday, leaking thousand of user names, addresses, phone numbers and log-in passwords belonging to subscribers of the website myBART.org.
Hackers claiming to be affiliated with the organization “Anonymous” infiltrated the website Sunday morning, replacing images with their main calling card — the mask worn by the main character in the film “V for Vendetta.” The hackers also rewrote text on the website, calling attention to their protest against the transit agency’s controversial decision to sever mobile phone access to prevent a planned protest last week.
(8/14) — 1041 PDT UPDATE — An online group of international hackers said Saturday they would hold a protest against the Bay Area Rapid Transit District’s recent decision to temporarily cut underground subway communications to prevent demonstrators from disrupting train service.
An updated posting from the group made public Saturday night threatened to “remove from the internet the web site of BART located at www.bart.gov for exactly six hours” beginning at 12 p.m. Pacific Time on Sunday. The international hacking group also said it would flood the agency’s e-mail inboxes and fax machines to express their dissatisfaction with the decision to suspend mobile voice and wireless communications last Thursday to rail passengers in the San Francisco subway.
BART officials admitted Friday that they shut off wireless communications for some stations in Downtown San Francisco to keep a planned protest from happening — a move that infuriated civil liberties groups and peeved passengers who likened the maneuver to former Egyptian dictator Hosni Mubarak’s regime to crush a citizen uprising.
Bay Area Rapid Transit District officials found themselves defending a decision to temporarily disable underground wireless communications to mobile phone users in the Downtown San Francisco subway Thursday afternoon to heed off potential protests organized by anti-BART Police groups angry over the fatal officer-involved shooting of a transient at the Civic Center Station.
Civil liberties groups, advocates for free speech, and BART riders likened the maneuver to tactics used by Middle Eastern dictators like Hosni Mubarak, who attempted to stifle citizen uprisings earlier this year by cutting off access to voice, text and internet communications.
Interim Mayor Ed Lee announced Monday morning he would seek a full term as mayor of San Francisco, officially filing paperwork with the city’s Department of Elections to declare his candidacy for the post, and ending speculation about whether he would join a crowded field of candidates seeking to lead the city.
Lee’s announcement was almost immediately met with criticism from mayoral challengers, who accused Lee of going back on a pledge he made when appointed to the vacant mayoral job seven months ago not to run for a full term.
“Jeopardy” show host Alex Trebek was injured Wednesday morning after he chased after a woman who tried to burglarize his Downtown San Francisco hotel room.
Trebek, who was in the Bay Area to host the National Geographic World Championship event at Google’s Mountain View campus, told reporters that he ruptured his Achilles tendon and fell on the hotel room floor while chasing the burglar. Trebek said he injured his other leg during the fall.
BART Police released platform surveillance video partially showing the fatal July 3 officer-involved shooting of a 45 year-old transient at the Civic Center Station in San Francisco.
Charles Hill was shot and killed after a confrontation with two transit police officers on the station platform when he allegedly brandished a knife. Authorities displayed photographs of knives they said were found in Hill’s possession.
The San Francisco Medical Examiner’s office revealed Thursday the Seattle man believed to have been shot and killed by two police officers in the Bayview District over the weekend likely died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
An autopsy concluded that the bullet lodged in the skull of Kenneth Harding Jr., 19, was fired from a gun that was not issued to the police officers who confronted the Washington State parolee during a MUNI Metro fare inspection Saturday afternoon.
SAN FRANCISCO — Police arrested 35 protesters after a march through city streets Tuesday evening demonstrating against the fatal officer-involved shooting of a parolee in the Bayview District.
A large group of 150 protesters gathered at Dolores Park at 5 p.m. and marched towards the Castro District making a stop at the Castro Street MUNI Metro Station. Some protesters caused minor damage to the transit stop after they began vandalizing station walls.
