Without knowing exactly what BART has planned, as a general matter it's OK to exercise free speech on the station concourse, which is to say outside the the fare gates, as long as one is not obstructing other users of the transit system. BART is attempting to avoid a protest being held on the actual platform where trains are going past, both because of the minor risk of someone falling onto a live rail and electrocuting themselves, and because of the more realistic risk that protestors will attempt to do the same thing as last month - stop trains by holding the doors open and/or climbing on top of them, thus bringing the BART system to a halt on the San Francisco side.
I'm in tepid agreement with the BART management here; while I feel that BART police are indeed trigger-happy and need reminding that protection and service can often be accomplished without needing to shoot anyone, I don't see what good it does to hold passengers hostage just because they happen to be riding the BART at the time of the protest. Yes, yes, protesters want to draw attention to their cause, but there are other ways to do that, such as by running for election to BART's board of directors [0]. Recent protests at transit stations in SF have featured masked anarchist wannabes smashing up Castro subway station [1] and racial epithets directed at a BART spokesperson [2]. This is not really my idea of healthy civic society at work.
Comments
Yes, nothing, and no.
Without knowing exactly what BART has planned, as a general matter it's OK to exercise free speech on the station concourse, which is to say outside the the fare gates, as long as one is not obstructing other users of the transit system. BART is attempting to avoid a protest being held on the actual platform where trains are going past, both because of the minor risk of someone falling onto a live rail and electrocuting themselves, and because of the more realistic risk that protestors will attempt to do the same thing as last month - stop trains by holding the doors open and/or climbing on top of them, thus bringing the BART system to a halt on the San Francisco side.
I'm in tepid agreement with the BART management here; while I feel that BART police are indeed trigger-happy and need reminding that protection and service can often be accomplished without needing to shoot anyone, I don't see what good it does to hold passengers hostage just because they happen to be riding the BART at the time of the protest. Yes, yes, protesters want to draw attention to their cause, but there are other ways to do that, such as by running for election to BART's board of directors [0]. Recent protests at transit stations in SF have featured masked anarchist wannabes smashing up Castro subway station [1] and racial epithets directed at a BART spokesperson [2]. This is not really my idea of healthy civic society at work.
0. http://www.bart.gov/about/bod/
1. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x2P5LIrFDXc
2. http://articles.sfgate.com/2011-07-12/bay-area/29763722_1_ba...