'Blackout Black Friday' Protesters Arrested After Chaining Themselves, Blocking BART Trains

BART trains are running through the Transbay Tube again this afternoon and protesters have been arrested after chaining themselves to trains at the West Oakland BART station, prompting system-wide BART delays.

BART police have arrested a number of protesters who chained themselves to trains on both sides of the station around 10:45 a.m., shutting down the station and halting all trains between the Transbay Terminal in San Francisco and the West Oakland station.

The station remained closed as of 12:30 p.m.

About 15 to 25 protesters this morning chained themselves to trains, preventing any trains from traveling through the station for more than an hour, according to BART spokeswoman Alicia Trost.

As of 12:15 p.m., trains were running through both platforms of the West Oakland station and BART personnel were anticipating “getting into service recovery mode,” Trost said.

During the service disruption, BART officials pointed BART riders to AC Transit, which shuttles passengers between the Transbay Terminal and West Oakland on its NL and O lines.

AC Transit is honoring BART tickets. Trost did not have an estimate for when the West Oakland station would reopen.

Numerous posts on Twitter linked the protest to “Blackout Black Friday,” a nationwide campaign to bring attention to the August fatal shooting of 18-year-old Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri and a grand jury’s decision earlier this week not to indict the police officer who killed him.

However, Trost said she could not confirm what the demonstrators were protesting.

--Bay City News

--Image via @juliacarriew on Twitter.