Benefit party ends in riot

Benefit party ends in riot
by Andrew Palma, Staff Writer
January 31, 2010 3:05 AM



Chaos erupted outside of a student party in the SOMA district early this morning as police drew their firearms amidst a struggle to restrain some of those in attendance.

At 12:47 a.m., police and firefighters entered a storefront warehouse at 154 7th Street between Mission and Howard Streets and ordered everyone to vacate the premises. It is not immediately clear why police decided to order everyone to leave.

What followed was a few, tense moments as police struggled with some of the people in attendance amidst cries of protest from others watching in the street.
An all-out brawl broke out between some of the partygoers and police. Within minutes of the outbreak, several more police cars arrived on the scene with officers running from their vehicles to break up and restrain the fight.

Small explosions were also heard and seen erupting near some of the police vehicles parked in front of the building, although it is not clear if that came from the police or from people on the street. The scene could only be described as chaotic as police shouted commands, some with their weapons drawn, and people on the street shouted obscenities at the officers.

Rocks and bottles were thrown at police cars as they arrived on the scene, chants of "F*** the Police," echoed from all sides of the street, and police shoved people who were standing in the street ordering them to move onto the sidewalk.

An unconfirmed total of nine people were arrested, according to party attendee Aaron Buchbinder, 26, who said commanding officer Borges informed him of that amount.

Police would not speculate when asked for details about how many people were arrested or why they broke up the party.

SF State student and [X]press photographer Krystal Peak was also arrested as she took pictures of the scene. Police allege that she was impeding a criminal investigation.

"We saw a guy being pinned down, and man and somebody else getting pushed up against a car," CCSF student Yarilis VasquezGuzman, 24, said, "The guy was saying... he was complaining about his finger. There were too many cops outside, too much aggression."

The party was organized by students from SF State, UC Berkeley, UC Santa Cruz, and UC Davis, to help raise money for fines issued during last semester's spate of demonstrations, including SF State students who were arrested during the occupation of the Business building on Dec 9.