Bart rail stations targeted after police shoot man dead and shut down parts of mobile phone network
Four San Francisco underground rail stations shut down temporarily on Monday during a demonstration organised by the hacker group Anonymous over alleged police brutality and freedom of speech.
The Bay Area Rapid Transit (Bart) commuter train service shut down mobile phone networks in some stations on Thursday to stop demonstrators organising a protest over the fatal shooting of a man by police last month.
"This was a complete silencing of the people," said Carlos Wilson, a 41-year-old gay rights activist who came to protest at the killing and the closure of the mobile phone network last week.
A few dozen protesters turned out for the action, during rush hour, which ended when the authorities shut down the Civic Centre station. Later, three other stations closed briefly, apparently owing to crowding.
Police said there had been no arrests, although officers arrived dressed in riot gear.
Mobile phone service was left on in the station during the action, and some protesters took that as a sign of victory. Beck Simmons, a 21-year-old student, said: "I have more cell service now than usual on Bart. I think what they did last time was an empty threat. I have full bars." Anonymous, a loose-knit group that has attacked financial and government websites, had called for protesters to descend on the station at 5pm.
Would-be protesters were encouraged to download software for short-range mobile-to-mobile messaging, in case the in-station networks were shut down again.
Bart said a website for its users, mybart.org, had been hacked over the weekend and contact information from at least 2,400 people had been stolen.
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Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/aug/16/anonymous-protests-san-francisco-bart
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