Posted: Friday, 31 October 2008 12:09PM

BART Stations Shut Down Ahead of Immigration Protest


SAN FRANCISCO (KCBS/AP) -- BART closed Fruitvale Station for a second time Friday when another wave of young demonstrators headed to an immigration protest in San Francisco tried to jump the fare gates.

Service at the Fruitvale, Coliseum, West Oakland and Richmond stations was disrupted around 10 a.m. Friday after dozens of protesters jumped the fare gates. Shortly after those stations reopened, service at Fruitvale was disrupted again for about an hour by the arrival of more protesters.

KCBS reporter Bob Melrose at Fruitvale said protesters shouted at BART police from outside the gates, but there was no violence.

The groups are heading to a noontime rally on Sansome Street in San Francisco, according to authorities, to demonstrate against the recent raids by federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents.

KCBS reporter Margie Shafer in San Francisco reports hundreds of students from at least 10 schools converged on a park at Clay and Washington to rally ahead of a march to the ICE office nearby.

The group was calling for an end to ICE raids and for the agency to close its detention centers. Speakers at the rally also urged sanctuary cities to provide more support for undocumented workers.

A spokeswoman for ICE, Laurie Haley, defended the agency’s work to arrest and deport those living in the country illegally.

“ICE takes its responsibility to enforce the nation’s immigration laws seriously and we carry out this mandate in a fair, human manner that meets the highest standards of law enforcement,â€