The protest was intended to bring attention to complaints of censorship and police brutality, especially the recent shutdown of cell phone service during other protests planned for last Thursday. Anonymous hacked official BART website myBart.org on Sunday, defacing the site and calling for San Franciscans to meet at Civic Center to protest. The request drew a few hundred people, whose nomadic rally shut down Civic Center, Powell Street, Montgomery and Embarcadero BART stations. Police in riot masks peaceably separated the group from the train and shut the station down. Both police and protesters kept to what Anonymous hoped would be a violence-free protest.
After clearing the train from the station, BART police declared the protest unlawful and stated that anyone who remained would be arrested.
The group took to the streets.
Not everyone was as informed as the gauzy “Anonymous” protester, however. “I’ve heard of [Anonymous], and I came out here because of them but also because of BART police shooting black people,” Michael said (pictured left). The group yelled, “They can’t shoot us all!” and “BART police: murderers!” As for the hacker group itself, Anonymous tweeted “Anonymous 1 – BART 0″ from its @YourAnonNews Twitter handle. The group’s mission is centered around abolishing censorship and corrupt government. The hacktivist group Anonymous took its fight off the internet and onto the streets of downtown San Francisco on Monday evening to protest the decision by Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) to briefly cut off cell phone access last week at four of its stations.
The data included names, email addresses and passwords, and in some cases home addresses and phone numbers, according to BART.
Meanwhile, Monday's physical protest, which began at the Civic Center station, resulted in authorities temporarily shuttering four BART stations in downtown San Francisco. There were roughly 100 demonstrators walking from station to station, according to police.
BART on Friday defended its decision to turn off cell phone service during last Thursday evening's commute over safety. Linton Johnson, a BART spokesman, did not return a call seeking comment about the agency's web security practices.
"One thing is clear...cutting off cell phone service in response to a planned protest is a shameful attack on free speech," said the EFF statement. The faceoff between the group of hacker-activists known as Anonymous and the Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) authority is a fresh parable in the mounting clash this summer between law enforcement and social media.
Now, Anonymous has hacked into a BART website in retaliation for the transit agency cutting cellphone service Thursday to prevent protesters from using their smartphones to organize. And on Monday, Anonymous is calling for people to rally against BART – in person – in San Francisco at 5 p.m. Pacific time.
In the second, in San Francisco, BART officers say the man approached them with a knife.
BART had warned riders that protests last Thursday could interrupt service. As a precaution, BART cut its cellphone service, which keeps signals clear even in tunnels, in an attempt to hamper protest organizers. No protests materialized.
BART police Lt. Andy Alkire told Bay City News that the cell-service shutdown was a “great tool to utilize for this specific purpose.”
Anonymous responded Sunday by hacking into a BART website and posting the names, home addresses, e-mail addresses, and phone numbers of thousands of Bay Area residents that were in BART's database.
"BART has proved multiple times that they have no problem exploiting and abusing the people."
To some observers, Anonymous's hacking tactics are hypocritical.
Experts are watching to see how BART responds to Monday's call for protests.