No Holiday For BART Protesters

Protesters will not be taking the Labor Day holiday off, as the  Civic Center BART station will be the site of another anti-BART protest Monday evening.
    For the fourth consecutive Monday, the hacker group "Anonymous"  plans to hold a protest at the Civic Center station at 5 p.m. today,  according to the group's Twitter page.
    Anonymous began its protests in response to BART's decision to  shut down cellphone service at several San Francisco stations on Aug. 11  during a protest against the BART police shooting of 45-year-old Charles Hill  in July.
    Last Monday's protest by Anonymous resulted in the arrests of two  people at the Embarcadero station, but no stations were closed and all trains  ran on time, BART officials said.
    During the protest the previous week, two stations were shut down  and more than 40 people were arrested.
    The difference last week was that demonstrators did not enter the  stations. Anonymous' Twitter account has reminded protesters not to pass  through the fare gates this time, either.
    Unlike in previous weeks, BART has not issued a warning to riders  about today's protest in part because there are fewer passengers because of  the holiday, BART spokesman Jim Allison said.
    A separate BART protest by the group "No Justice, No BART" -- the  group that organized the Aug. 11 protest against the shooting of Hill -- is  planned for Thursday.
    Hill was fatally shot on the platform of the Civic Center station  by BART police on July 3 after he allegedly wielded knives and a broken  bottle as weapons during a confrontation with two officers.
    "No Justice, No BART," which was formed after the BART police  shooting of Oscar Grant III on New Year's Day 2009, says on its Twitter  account it will protest outside the fare gates of the Powell Street station  on Thursday.
    However, the group also said that if BART interferes with the  protest, it will move down onto the platform and possibly disrupt train  service.
    The group is holding a news conference at 4:30 p.m. today to give  details about its plan.