Feature Archives

No Justice No BART called for an action to be held on Thursday, September 8th, at the Powell Street Station in San Francisco. The plan announced was that if enough protesters were mobilized, in order to keep riders moving into and out of the station, BART would have to open the emergency exits and let folks ride for free, just as they have for other large events in the past. On September 8th, protesters gathered at Powell station, chanting and holding signs. No fare gates were ever blocked. Within a half hour, BART riot police kettled dozens of protesters and reporters. BART police handcuffed numerous journalists, requesting that SFPD confiscate their SFPD police press passes. Two Indybay journalists were arrested, along with over 22 protesters, and charged with violating Penal Code 369i, which deals with interfering with train operations.

On August 17th, opening night of the 2011 Ringling Brothers Circus in San Jose, nearly a hundred activists gathered to protest and to inform circus-goers about the cruelty involved when wild animals are forced to live in small cages and perform for audiences across the country. Ringling Brothers has a history of maltreating the animals under its care, from physically abusing them as part of their training to failing to adequately meet basic medical needs. Animal activists encourage others to help keep the heat on Ringling to drop the use of animals in their live shows. Demonstrations are planned for Ringling Brothers appearances in San Francisco and Oakland from September 1st through 11th.

The Bay Area is now the first place in the United States to have had its electronic communications deliberately disabled to preempt a political protest. On August 11th, BART cut power to the underground mobile phone antennas within their system for several hours, denying tens of thousands of evening commuters access to the Internet, telephone service, and even 911 calls. The protest BART claimed as the reason for disrupting mobile service never happened, but Anonymous called for online and offline protests in "remembrance [of] the blood that is on the hands of the BART police" and to "stand up for your rights and those of your fellow citizens." Both the myBART.org and BART Police Officers' Association websites have been hacked. On August 15th and 22nd, protests were held in San Francisco that shut down downtown BART stations during the evening commutes. Over 40 people were arrested on August 22nd. A third demonstration was called for August 29th and two were arrested. No stations were closed by BART but two people were arrested for speaking out inside of Embarcadero station.

Santa Cruz Indymedia & SubRosa are pleased to present Ryan Harvey from Baltimore, MD, an engaging folk singer, incredible story teller, organizer and writer. He will be joined by Nomi, a fabulous folk from the Bay. This event is a record/CD release tour for Ryan Harvey's new album "Ordinary Heroes." It starts at 8pm on Wednesday, July 27th at SubRosa in downtown Santa Cruz. Ryan and Nomi are also performing on Thursday in San Francisco at a benefit event called Operation Recovery.

Nineteen year-old Kenneth Harding was approached by San Francisco police officers doing fare inspections on the Muni platform at Third and Palou on Saturday, July 16th, 2011. Within a half block of running from police through a plaza, he was shot down on Oakdale Street and left to bleed to death as police offered no medical assistance and crowd-control police arrived to hold back a growing mass of angry residents well before any emergency paramedics reached the area. Numerous gatherings, marches, rallies, and vigils have challenged SFPDs evolving version of events and protested police who continue to kill with impunity. Bayview activist Debray Carpenter was arrested by SFPD late last week and he was finally released on July 26th with no charges.

On the evening of July 3rd at the Civic Center BART station in San Francisco, two as of yet unidentified BART police officers shot and killed Charles Hill with three rounds to his chest. BART's police chief Kenton Rainey declared that he is "comfortable" with the shooting. On July 11th, at least 150 demonstrators converged at the very same station to protest the killing, to demand that the officers be held accountable and that the BART police department be shut down. Protesters had promised to disrupt the Bay Area Rapid Transit system's business as usual and BART PR spokesman Linton Johnson was forced to concede, "They succeeded."

UPDATE 7/12: Hunger Striker’s Health Rapidly Deteriorates | 7/14: Vigil to support the Prisoner Hunger Strikers

Thousands of California prisoners have come together in solidarity with the prisoners at Pelican Bay SHU. The California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation’s own figures acknowledge 6,600 prisoners participated in the hunger strike across 13 prisons in California this past weekend. The first solidarity actions were held on July 1st on both sides of the SF Bay. Further solidarity actions were held in Oakland on July 8th and San Francisco on July 9th.