SF PROTESTS

Here's a recap of this morning's protests from SF Gate (and thus, the Chron):

09:20 PST -- Protesters linked with metal pipes blocked streets just after dawn Thursday in San Francisco's financial district, carrying out their pledge of a "festival of resistance" that would disrupt the morning commute and kick off statewide demonstrations against the war in Iraq.

Police and firefighters used power saws to separate the protesters and arrested scores of people, but not before traffic was paralyzed in parts of downtown. Roving bands of protesters occupied intersections throughout downtown, often staying one step ahead of police.

Freeway off-ramps were a particular target, and groups succeeded in closing several exits from the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge for brief periods, making for a fitful morning commute before drivers even got onto San Francisco's clogged streets.

Shortly before 9 a.m., a total of 23 Muni buses were stranded along Clay, Columbus and Montgomery streets and had to let all their passengers off.

Municipal Railway spokeswoman Maggie Lynch said earlier this morning that bus drivers had been ordered to avoid the downtown area, saying there was no way they could navigate around the clogged interesections. She said streetcars and the underground Muni Metro were still running.

At some intersections, dozens of protesters -- outnumbered by police -- sat stoically and then lined up in plastic handcuffs to be loaded into buses. At others, dozens of people occupied intersections while only a few officers on horseback watched.

Shortly after 7 a.m., about 50 protesters marched up Ninth, blocking traffic. Several offered motorists bags of cookies, an apparent attempt to appease them for the inconvenience.

At Turk and Van Ness, about 150 to 200 protesters carrying banners with the image of Cuban revolutionary Che Guevara, shouted "Bush, you liar. We're going to set your ass on fire."

"This party's just getting started," they added.

There were no immediate reports of violence, and police weren't immediately sure how many people they had arrested.

Sometimes, the bands of protesters dispersed without incident when police in riot gear ordered them to leave.

"We don't want to alienate people. I hope people realize that political murder merits action that inconveniences them," said Quinn Miller, 32, who took the day off from his job for a banking company and said he expected to be arrested for the first time in his life.

Sirens from police vans and the whirring of helicopters rattled through the city's concrete canyons. Braced for the civil disobedience, police were out in force.

Around 7 a.m., about 60 protesters moved into the street at Van Ness and Fell streets, and sat down in a circle in the intersection. Twenty of them chained themselves together, and were still sitting there more than an hour later.

Police began arresting the protesters around 7:50 a.m. Some Muni buses were getting through, though protesters were making half-hearted efforts to block them.

Click the above link for more.

Is this going to make the war end any faster or save the life of one Iraqi civilian? No. Will the presence of an increasingly vocal opposition to Dubya, in various forms of protest, have an effect on his chances for reelection next year? Yeah, probably.

With that in mind we at TFM say: yeah, it's messy, and I wouldn't like to be a lower-class public-transportation commuter in SF right now, but still, keep going.