BART reopens San Francisco stations after protest disrupts service

Female protester holding a cane blocked a northbound Bart train at the Montgomery Bart station in San Francisco, Calif., and was eventually arrested on Friday, January 16, 2015. Female protester holding a cane blocked a northbound Bart train at the Montgomery Bart station in San Francisco, Calif., and was eventually arrested on Friday, January 16, 2015. Photo: Liz Hafalia, The Chronicle Photo: Liz Hafalia, The Chronicle Image 1 of / 33 Caption Close BART reopens San Francisco stations after protest disrupts service 1 / 33 Back to Gallery

Protesters seeking police reforms set their sights on the backbone of the Bay Area’s public transit system Friday, temporarily shutting down three BART stations in downtown San Francisco during the morning commute and raising questions about the effectiveness and appeal of the disruptive tactic.

More protests at train stations were being discussed not only over the holiday weekend, but in weeks to come.

The strategy, which in the summer of 2011 periodically limited BART service in San Francisco after the fatal police shooting of a 45-year-old homeless man, draws attention to demonstrators’ cause, but through an inconvenience that doesn’t sit well with many of BART’s quarter million riders.

“It’s a way for us to be on the offense in engaging in direct action,” said Oakland resident Amai Freeman, 23, an organizer of Friday’s protests at the Montgomery, Embarcadero and Powell stations. “A few hours delay for people is not in any way comparable to the loss of life and the suffering of communities that have to deal with police terror.”

Friday’s activists said they specifically wanted to call out what they believe is the unfair prosecution of 14 protesters charged for chaining themselves to BART trains at the West Oakland station in November.

They gathered at 7 a.m. on the underground platform at the Montgomery station before . Police in riot gear responded, making two arrests, while BART officials were proactive in protecting service throughout the regional system. They intermittently closed the three downtown stations when actdecided to steer trains through the station without stopping so that none would be stalled there.

Many commuters were turned away from their trains — and frustrated.

“I’m confused why they think this is the best way to get attention, by messing up people’s commute,” said Nick Shoemaker, 28, of San Francisco, who works as an engineer in the East. “I got what they are trying to do, but I don’t know if this is the right forum to do it.”

Another man yelled, “Son of a!” when he heard the announcement about the Montgomery station closure that forced him to miss his train and go elsewhere.

Protesters, many with metal spoons to make noise, proceeded to the Embarcadero and Powell stations, where trains similarly bypassed their stops.

By 9:30 a.m., the demonstration had ended and trains were again picking up riders.

“We had plenty of eyes and ears on the scene,” said BART spokesman Jim Allison, noting that the transit agency had known about the protests in advance and staffed up accordingly. “As trains came into the stations, decisions were made about the trains as they approached and whether they would stop.”

BART also warned riders in advance about the possibility of service disruptions. As a result, nearly 20 percent fewer people rode the train Friday morning, Allison said.

This week’s demonstrations differed slightly from the ones that followed the death of Charles Hill, who was shot by a BART police officer in July 2011 — an incident that critics say police mishandled. The ensuing protests took place outside BART stations, where they sometimes blocked fare gates, not on platforms like Friday.

BART was continuing to monitor social media and local news for additional station protests, noting that at least one other demonstration was planned for the long weekend: Monday at Oakland’s Fruitvale station.

Friday’s events were billed as the kick-off to 96 hours of direct action over the Martin Luther King Jr. weekend. A demonstration at noon Sunday is scheduled for the Oakland Wal-Mart on Edgewater Drive while a labor march is slated for Monday morning in Oakland’s Fruitvale neighborhood.

Also on Friday morning, a group of protesters chained themselves together and partly blocked the Ronald V. Dellums Federal Building in downtown Oakland for 4½ hours, saying they wanted to reclaim the legacy of Martin Luther King Jr.

“I think it’s important that we’re in action and in the streets,” said demonstrator Micah Frazier, 40, of Oakland. “That is our first demand: that police violence stop.”

Freeman, in San Francisco, said there were no further protests scheduled at BART stations but that he and others didn’t plan to stop demonstrating soon.

“Unless our demands are met, unless there is going to be acknowldgement and accountability around this violence, we will definitely be out there.”

Hamed Aleaziz, Vivian Ho and Henry K. Lee are San Francisco Chronicle staff writers. E-mail: haleaziz@sfchronicle.com, vho@sfchronicle.com and hlee@sfchronicle.com,Twitter: @haleaziz @vivianho @henryklee