[AlJazeera] US railway blocked phones to quash protest

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A rail transit provider in the United States disabled mobile phone services to prevent a planned protest on Thursday, attracting criticism and unflattering comparisons to crackdowns on dissent in the Middle East.

But BART offered varying explanations, probably with different legal ramifications, for how the shutdown had actually occurred.

Linton Johnson, BART’s spokesman, told the local KTVU television channel that BART « didn’t try to shut down the protest. They simply turned off the cell service so it couldn’t become viral.

http://english.aljazeera.net/news/americas/2011/08/201181221139693608.html