San Francisco, CA - Arrests Made At Protest At Jewish Community Center

San Francisco, CA - Police arrested 14 men and women after they blocked the doors of the Jewish community center in downtown San Francisco in protest of U.S. involvement in Middle East conflicts.

Bound together by ropes and metal tubing, six of the protesters sat directly in front of the building's glass doors, which had been covered by adhesive posters and handbills.
Sparks flew when a firefighter lowered a handheld power saw onto the piping connecting the arms of each protester. Once they were separated, officers escorted, carried or dragged each protester into a police van while onlookers cheered.

Several of the activists, a few wearing traditional yarmulkes, screamed that they were, "Jews against Israel's siege of Lebanon."
But Yitzhak Santis, a spokesman with the Jewish Community Relations Council, a public affairs organization representing the Jewish Community Federation, said the protesters were part of a "tiny fringe of the Jewish community."

According to police, the protesters were to be transported to the Southern Police Station and booked on misdemeanor counts of disturbing a business and lack of proper identification.