How BART protest devolved into anarchy, rioting [View All]

[Newsjock]

Source: San Francisco Chronicle

The man who organized Wednesday's BART police protest said he broke down in tears when he saw his peaceful march turn violent as some participants began throwing bottles, spitting on police cars and setting small fires.

Evan Shamar said he left the demonstration and saw the mayhem get worse on television.

"I was devastated by it," said Shamar, 24, the organizer and a photographer who lives in Oakland. "I worked diligently for the past 72 hours, and for it to be destroyed by a group of anarchists was extremely upsetting. I felt like my integrity had been compromised."

... When the marchers reached the Lake Merritt BART Station around 6:15 p.m., Shamar saw things start to go bad. Marchers began kicking newspaper stands and using papers to start fires. As he saw them throwing bottles and spitting on police cars, Shamar said he wept and returned to the Fruitvale Station.

For the next four to five hours, marchers smashed and burned cars, shattered storefronts and clashed with police. Eventually, police arrested 105 protesters.

Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/01/08/MNON15696D.DTL&tsp=1