PRESS ADVISORY

For Immediate Release
July 10th, 2011

Protest disrupts BART service, demands BART Police Department be shut down after latest killing.

When: July 11, 2011 - 4:30 p.m. sharp
Where: Civic Center BART station platform

For More Information, Contact:
Hannibal Shakur
info [at] oaklandforjustice.org
www.oaklandforjustice.org

On Monday, July 11th, at 4:30 PM, protesters will converge on the platform at Civic Center BART station, the scene of the fatal shooting of Charles Hill by 2 BART police officers. Hill's death marks the 6th officer involved shooting in BART police history, and despite refusing to reveal any details about the shooting incident, BART Police chief Kenton Rainey told the media he was "comfortable" with the actions of his officers and wants to get them back to work as soon as possible.

Protesters feel that the shooting was unnecessary and that BART police are trying to cover up the evidence just as they did following the Oscar Grant shooting. They point out that witnesses have called into question the account of the shooting advanced by BART Police, and they demand the immediate release of the surveillance tape that captured the shooting, as well as an independent, public investigation into the incident.

Their primary demand, however, is that the transit agency's police department be closed down, and the responsibilities of the BART police transferred elsewhere. "BART doesn't have a fire department, or an ambulance service. Why do we allow them to run their own police department, especially with this record of killings and cover-ups?" asked August Spiesse, an organizer with No Justice No BART. Protesters see the shooting of Charles Hill as fitting into a pattern of abuses by the BART police department, and are convinced that problems with the transit agency are structural. They believe that BART does not have the capacity to run a police department, or a system of governance that makes it easy to hold BART officials accountable for their actions.

In future protests, No Justice No BART intends to continue to hold BART management accountable for their response to Oscar Grant, Charles Hill, and other police shootings and misconduct. As protester Micaela Neus explained, "We believe that BART's experiment in running its own police force has been a deadly disaster. The solution is simple: it is time for the BART police to call it quits".

Organizers anticipate that the protest will disrupt normal BART service, and passengers who take BART during the afternoon rush hour are encouraged to join the action or to make alternate transportation plans on Monday, July 11th.

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