Anonymous Protests Shut Down SF Stations: Cell Phones Still Working

Anonymous supporters gathered in San Francisco's Civic Center station platform Monday, protesting against the Bay Area Rapid Transit's shutdown of cell phone services last week.

The action was preceded by the hacking of one of BART’s Web sites, leaking data of more than 2,000 users.

Finding itself in the midst of enraged protesters shouting “no justice, no peace,” BART shut down four of its San Francisco subway stations.

However, the BART agencies refrained from shutting down the wireless services, unlike last time.

Around 5 p.m. Monday, the protesters gathered at the UN Plaza near the Civic Center BART and Muni station, hiding their identity behind Guy Fawkes masks.

"I'm here to fight censorship and shutting down people's right to protest with cell phone usage," said an Anonymous supporter.

They began marching northeast on Market Street towards Powell station at about 5:25 p.m., when San Francisco Police Department and BART police officers emerged from Civic Center station to inform public about the station's shutdown for safety reasons.

The march was clearly aimed at drawing the attention to BART’s behavior, which critcs have compared to former Egyptian dictator Hosni Mubarak.

At several incidents the BART police, in the recent years, left the suspects injured and dead.

BART officials have said their primary concern is to ensure safety.

“It's wrong," American Civil Liberties Union lawyer Michael Risher said. "There were better alternatives to ensure the public's safety."

After hacking mybart.org, Anonymous said in a statement, “BART has proved multiple times that they have no problem exploiting and abusing the people. First they displayed this by the two recent killings by BART police. We are Anonymous, we are your citizens, we are the people, we do not tolerate oppression from any government agency.”