Protesters blocking trains in Berkeley, California

[BCL]

I heard some more. Apparently not just passive sitting/standing on the tracks, but a group trying to rock the cars.

 

[MattW]

Engineer could have just sat on the horn till they dispersed. Would an engine run out of air blowing its horn?

 

[the_traveler]

According to the article, the protesters blocked train tracks, a freeway, and a bike path. Truly a multi-modal bunch. All they need isan airport and a ferry terminal to complete the punch card.

Collect all 5 and they get the space port for free! peter

It's a looooong walk to Vandenberg

They could take the CS! :giggle:

 

[Orie]

I generally support the right to protest, I don't have a problem with people that block a highway for a few minutes... but delaying mass transit by up to five hours? That's going overboard. If it happens again I would hope Amtrak police is ready to take them off the tracks.

Amtrak Police have only about 500 officers (most in the NEC) nationwide, and I think they'd be hard pressed to do any kind of massive crowd removal without the help of local law enforcement. UP Police aren't huge either, but the Bay Area is an important region for them. In this case local LE had its hands full. I'm not sure if neighboring cities could help since they rarely handle riots, although Alameda Sheriff could probably lend a hand. UC Police often renders aid to Berkeley, but they're probably on alert too at this time for the campus area.

From my understanding, the track blockers started leaving, but at a certain point the staff had to clock out by law and there was nobody to move the train.

Ah, from the picture I thought there were only about 3-5 people. More would definitely be a problem for Amtrak police.

 

[neroden]

The neighboring police departments are in Albany, Emeryville, Oakland, El Cerrito, and Kensington. I'm sure Oakland has a lot of experience with this sort of thing, but they're stretched thin right about now.

Oakland PD has a *seriously* bad reputation. They are actually under DOJ oversight due to a history of police brutality and general police lawbreaking. Oakland PD is the type of police department which is actually being *protested*. Best not to bring them in. For anything. Frankly, there would be a lot fewer protesters in the Bay Area if not for Oakland PD behavior. Although there have been incidents in most of the PDs in the area, Oakland has a long list of incidents.

 

[William W.]

Seems like the solution is quite obvious here. Arrest anyone who blocks the tracks, and provide sufficient police coverage of stations. Those are the only places that people will be able to block the trains anyway. If they want to try down the line somewhere, they should be aware that a train at full speed doesn't stop on a dime.

I'm surprised that the Feds haven't stepped in to keep the rail lines open. DHS normally takes any sort of intentional disruption of the rail system quite seriously.

 

[BCL]

The neighboring police departments are in Albany, Emeryville, Oakland, El Cerrito, and Kensington. I'm sure Oakland has a lot of experience with this sort of thing, but they're stretched thin right about now.

Oakland PD has a *seriously* bad reputation. They are actually under DOJ oversight due to a history of police brutality and general police lawbreaking. Oakland PD is the type of police department which is actually being *protested*. Best not to bring them in. For anything. Frankly, there would be a lot fewer protesters in the Bay Area if not for Oakland PD behavior. Although there have been incidents in most of the PDs in the area, Oakland has a long list of incidents.

I know about the Riders prosecution. However, while they have some serious issues, they also have some seriously bad parts of town with some really, really bad people who wouldn't think of doing something like killing a random driver as a gang initiation.

If OPD has any problem right now, it's that they don't have enough staffing. I visit Oakland often, although it's with the knowledge of what areas I should stay out of if it can be helped. The Oakland PD I've encountered have been professional and courteous. Their big worry in Oakland is that it's a tough environment, and many graduates of their police academy have bolted for some suburban department at the first opportunity.

 

[Trainmans daughter]

Cap Corridor message recieved about an hour ago:

Updated: December 9, 2014, 7:30 a.m.

Due to continued protest activity on the evening of Tuesday, December 9, service to the Oakland Jack London, Emeryville, and Berkeley stations has been halted for trains 546, 548, 549, and 551. Please see the detailed article on the Capitol Corridor website for service modifications using BART, http://bit.ly/1wwLtPk. Please check back to this page for updates. Thank you for your patience.

 

[neroden]

Thankfully the people currently in charge of the Federal police departments know better than to engage in ham-handed crackdowns in a situation where people are protesting abuse of authority -- that's usually a situation where any sort of crackdown causes massive, massive backlash. Best to use a soft touch.

An appropriate response by police would be to tell the protestors to stay in the public grade crossing and not wander down the trackbed. (Almost all of them did stay in the grade crossing, by all accounts.)

 

[BCL]

Cap Corridor message recieved about an hour ago:

Updated: December 9, 2014, 7:30 a.m.

Due to continued protest activity on the evening of Tuesday, December 9, service to the Oakland Jack London, Emeryville, and Berkeley stations has been halted for trains 546, 548, 549, and 551. Please see the detailed article on the Capitol Corridor website for service modifications using BART, http://bit.ly/1wwLtPk. Please check back to this page for updates. Thank you for your patience.

I was a little bit worried that service would be disrupted again, so I took the 544 tonight. Right now it's looking like a pretty good idea. I see they had that bridge service using BART, but that doesn't exactly get me to my car parked at Emeryville.

 

[cirdan]

I'm just hoping this doesn't develop into some sort of new fad.

We hear enough stories about security agents harrassing railfans for pursuing innocent activities such as watching or photographing trains.

I hope these incidents won't be used as an excuse to get even tougher as security forces attempt to fulfill some imaginary need to appear to "be doing something".

 

[firstcultural]

I doubt it, last night it was back to just freeways. The train blocking got some press for the novelty of it, but doesn't quite have the impact of stopping 50,000 cars. Berkeley's station doesn't have enough passengers to justify staffing it, though there are about a dozen cameras on poles above the platform.