The San Francisco Police Department and the SF State Department of Public Safety ended the student occupation of the Business building early Dec. 10 by entering through a ground-floor window, according to Capt. Gary Jimenez of SFPD.

At 3:25 a.m. more than 20 police in riot gear surrounded the Business building at SF State while officers inside began detaining 14 occupants, who broke in and barricaded the building almost 24 hours prior. University Spokesperson Ellen Griffin said the occupants forced their way past a custodial worker entering the building for work at approximately 4:15 a.m. the previous morning.

"The university decided that those people occupying the building were to be removed. The campus police were ordered to enter the building," Jimenez said.
Protesters blocking the North entrance were asked to leave. Those who refused were arrested, according to Jimenez.

Remaining protesters moved to 19th Avenue's North and Southbound lanes. The students and other protesters blocked all traffic on 19th Avenue near Holloway Avenue as police created a roadblock near Stonestown Galleria.

"The San Francisco Police Department had nothing to do with the arrests for the violations of being on the property or blocking the entrances," Jimenez said. It's up to University police to file charges against the arrested students, he said.

Occupants were arrested within the building at 3:35 a.m.
Beginning at 3:55 a.m., 11 people blocking the entrances to the building were arrested for refusing to leave. Police officials have confirmed the arrest of 30 people total.
Five protesters were arrested for blocking the police vans as the occupants were being loaded in.

"I think they're stoked to have been in there for 24 hours," 19-year-old cinema major Demian Bererra said. "And I think they're stoked that we are all still here."
According to Jimenez, all 30 arrestees have been cited with misdemeanors and released, including those occupying the building. The possibility of expulsion is left up to University administration.

Around 5:30 p.m. the General Assembly originally scheduled at Malcolm X Plaza took place once at each of the four entrances to the Business building. California Faculty Association members Phil Klasky and Sheila Tully discussed with protesters plans for the March 4 Strike and Day of Action and ways to better organize and prepare for police action.

The police intervention, ordered by President Robert Corrigan, came at the end of a nearly-24-hour student occupation and demonstration that showed onlookers many different looks for the Business building throughout the night, including a dance party and a small campout complete with blankets, sleeping bags and a crock pot full of vegan food.

According to Keri-Ann Oddman, an SF State student and one of the protesters involved in securing the doors to the building, the dance music exploding from the South entrance from around 8:30 p.m. until roughly 2 a.m. kept police from intervening as soon as they might have.

"They knew the cops were waiting for the numbers to die down a little," Oddman said. "I kept saying 'keep it going, keep it going. If anything, it's protecting us.'"
Oddman said the sound system was provided by students from Santa Cruz, who had heard about the situation on the news and decided to supply the beats to "lighten the mood and bring more people out."

"It went from just a few of us to tons of us in an instant," she said.
In contrast, the North entrance looked more like a sleepover and was blocked by a sizeable pile of blankets and sleeping bags filled with shivering human bodies.
"We pretty much spent our time just trying to keep warm," 20-year-old political science major Tayler Mehit said.

Mehit, a member of Students, Faculty and Staff United, was among the first to be arrested that morning. She said she spent much of the night sharing her experiences with first-time protesters and teaching them ways to fight back.

"I've never felt more connected and more solidarity on campus than I did that night," she said.

Classes in the Business building resumed Dec. 10, as the classrooms were cleaned up and readied for student use. Occupants barricaded all four doors with eight-feet-high piles of desks that were zip-tied to each other and the handrails. This method forced University police to make their first entry through the window.

"It's definitely a good show," protester and 22-year-old art major Andrew Cardoza said. "We're discontent with the budget cuts. Insofar as we know, this is the best we could have done."