BART Protests Fizzle, Only Three Demonstrators Show Up To Most Recent Event

It's been a long summer of discontent for the Bay Area Rapid Transit System.

Every Monday evening for the past two months, commuters and BART officials alike have braced for inevitable delays and station closures as protesters packed downtown stations, railing against everything from police shootings and free speech infringement to the Wall Street Bailout and authority in general. Along the way, reporters were arrested, a spokesman was publicly humiliated and the transit agency came further under fire for planting supporters at a press conference.

But is the chaos finally coming to an end?

If last Monday was any indication, the excitement may finally be starting to fizzle. Although the hacker group behind the demonstrations promised activity "Every Monday at 5 on the Civic Center platform" shortly before yesterday's event, the San Francisco Examiner reported that a meager three activists showed up:

Barbara Bettenburg, 61, of San Francisco was one of the three. She held a sign that read, “Stand down BART police.” Another protester left after 15 minutes.

Bettenburg won't back down, though. "It's still an issue," she said of the July shooting of 45-year-old homeless man Charles Hill by BART police. Hill's death sparked an initial protest, which BART officials quelled by suspending cell phone service in downtown stations. Public outrage ensued when the agency's actions came to light, further ignited by infamous hacker collective 'Anonymous.'

Anonymous has promised weekly action until the BART police is disbanded, and has also been implicated in multiple online attacks against the agency, including leaking semi-naked pictures of spokesman Linton Johnson.

No one should be in favor of police brutality or free speech violations, but at this point, we have to say we agree with SF Weekly's Erin Sherbert. "Someone break the news to Betternburg," she wrote Tuesday. "She can go home now."