Facebook takes down, then restores, BART protest page

BART police officers at West Oakland Station detain a protester, one of a small group of 15 to 20 protesters that shut down the system on Nov. 28, 2014. BART police officers at West Oakland Station detain a protester, one of a small group of 15 to 20 protesters that shut down the system on Nov. 28, 2014. Photo: Nathan Weyland / Nathan Weyland Photo: Nathan Weyland / Nathan Weyland Image 1 of / 4 Caption Close Facebook takes down, then restores, BART protest page 1 / 4 Back to Gallery

Activists organizing a protest set for Friday morning on the underground platform of BART’s Montgomery Street Station in downtown San Francisco called foul Thursday after Facebook shut down the event’s page.

“What side are they really on in terms of people’s free speech and rights?” said Amai Freeman, 23, a spokesman for the organizers of Friday’s protest.

A Twitter account associated with the event — BART Friday: No Business As Usual — said Facebook gave “no reason for the event being deleted” from its site.

The page was restored late Thursday afternoon, and Facebook said the problem was simply administrative.

While the page was down, a Facebook spokesperson said in an e-mail, “The event has been removed until the administrator can verify his or her account. We have personally reached out to the administrator to explain the steps that can be taken to verify their account so the event can be restored.”

For its part, BART officials said they did not contact Facebook to ask it to take down the page.

Organizers of the protest are demanding that Alameda County prosecutors drop charges against 14 activists who were arrested in late November after some chained themselves to trains and halted service at West Oakland Station. They also demand that the BART police force dissolve itself, and that the transit agency provide cheaper fares for low-income riders.

Friday’s protest is set to begin at 7 a.m. Organizers are encouraging people to bring metal spoons, though they won’t say why.

The earlier West Oakland protest was one of many in response to a Missouri grand jury’s decision not to indict a white police officer who shot and killed an unarmed black teenager in Ferguson, Mo.

Friday’s demonstration is said to be a kick-off event for 96 hours of direct action over the Martin Luther King Jr. weekend. The actions will take place at “community meetings and street corners and come in the form of shut downs, guerrilla theater, teach-ins and concerts,” and will culminate in a Monday morning demonstration in downtown Oakland.

“As long as it remains business as usual to gun down black women, men and children in the streets of this country,” a flier for the event reads, “there will be no business as usual anywhere or for anyone.”

Jim Allison, a BART spokesman, said the agency supports the right to peacefully protest and that a permit process is in place for demonstrators who want to gather outside the fare gates.

“However,” he said, “if protesters choose potentially dangerous actions that cause major service disruptions, BART police are prepared to enforce the law and ensure public safety.”

On Wednesday, the agency sent out a statement warning riders of a “potential for a major service disruption on Friday morning at Montgomery Street Station due to a protest organizers say will begin at 7 a.m.” The statement said riders should “factor this potential service disruption into their travel plans, especially if those plans include travel through downtown San Francisco stations.”

Hamed Aleaziz is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. E-mail: haleaziz@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @haleaziz