[http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2011/10/11/BAV11LG50U.DTL]
SAN FRANCISCO -- San Francisco police searched two vacant hotels Tuesday, taking a battering ram to the front door of one, but found that activists for the homeless who occupied the buildings overnight had vanished.
About 30 officers first went through the old Cathedral Hill Hotel at Van Ness Avenue and Geary Street, a onetime landmark that has been shuttered since October 2009. After spending most of the afternoon searching 600 rooms on eight floors, police found that the activists with Homes Not Jails had left earlier.
The activists had occupied the Cathedral Hill and another vacant hotel owned by California Pacific Medical Center, Charlie's Hotel at 1030 Geary, to make their point that the buildings could be used by homeless people. California Pacific plans to demolish both, building a hospital on the Cathedral Hill site and an office building on the site of Charlie's Hotel.
Police, who had been monitoring the situation at both hotels, began to gather in large numbers outside the Cathedral Hill at about 11 a.m., even though they were pretty sure the protesters had left. Repairmen were escorted inside to turn on the elevators by officers wielding rifles that shoot nonlethal beanbags.
At about 1 p.m., a tactical squad of 30 officers entered the Cathedral Hill to begin their room-by-room search. They emerged three hours later, convinced that nobody was hiding inside.
After leaving the Cathedral Hill, police surrounded Charlie's Hotel, a small, rundown three-story walk-up, at about 4 p.m. Protesters had draped three sheets, anchored with Gideon Bibles, from the fire escape. "80K vacant homes, 10K homeless, one solution: Squat!" read one.
Police took a battering ram to the front door and yelled orders inside, as officers with beanbag rifles trained them on the windows from the middle of Geary, which was closed to traffic.
By the time police entered the building, however, the activists had left.
"We attempted to make contact with them earlier in the day," Officer Carlos Manfredi said. "But they refused to talk with us."
Officials from California Pacific Medical Center had asked police to arrest the activists for trespassing, said police Capt. Ann Mannix. Officials with the medical center did not return calls seeking comment.
Manfredi said police were not disappointed to find the protesters gone.
"We like to give protesters every opportunity to leave," he said. "We deal with protesters and demonstrators quite often. It's easier to work with them than against them."
The protest was one of two centered around anger over economic inequality. In Oakland, dozens of activists allied with the Occupy movement spent their second day camped in a plaza in front of City Hall.
About 50 tents were set up in Frank Ogawa Plaza, but many were empty as people came and went from the encampment. Organizers said they were trying to pull together child care as well as classes in yoga, juggling and other activities.
There was no visible police presence. Sue Piper, spokeswoman for Mayor Jean Quan, said there were no plans to dismantle the camp and that officials were "keeping it cool."
"We understand the frustration," Piper said. "It's our frustration, too."
Occupy Oakland protesters gather in front of city hall in Oakland, Calif., on Monday, Oct. 10, 2011.
Photo: Noah Berger / Special to The Chronicle
A protester dressed as Ronald McDonald who gave his name as Pipes, celebrates the spread of the Occupy protest movement to Oakland, Calif., on Monday, Oct. 10, 2011.
Photo: Noah Berger / Special to The Chronicle
Occupy Oakland protesters set up camp outside city hall on Monday, Oct. 10, 2011, in Oakland, Calif. From left to right are Jacob Crawford, Emma Armstrong and Nick Walsh.
Photo: Noah Berger / Special to The Chronicle
Occupy Oakland protester Bex, who declined to give a last name, rallies in front of city hall in Oakland, Calif., on Monday, Oct. 10, 2011.
Photo: Noah Berger / Special to The Chronicle
Dave Firestein rallies with Occupy Oakland protesters on Monday, Oct. 10, 2011, in Oakland, Calif.
Photo: Noah Berger / Special to The Chronicle
Occupy Oakland protesters gather in front of city hall in Oakland, Calif., on Monday, Oct. 10, 2011.
Photo: Noah Berger / Special to The Chronicle
Jeremy Miller, one of the organizers of Homes Not Jail gets ready to address the group to protest of homeless activists at City Hall Plaza, Monday October 10, 2011, in San Francisco, Calif. " The landlords in San Francisco are criminally responsible for the people who die out here,"says Miller.
Photo: Lacy Atkins / The Chronicle
Activist go to the roof of the Cathedral Hotel to occupy, Monday October 10, 2011, in San Francisco, Calif. Approximately thirty people homeless activists gathered at City Hall Plaza and then march the streets to the Cathedral Hotel to occupy to protest the waste of vacant buildings that could be used for housing the homeless.
Photo: Lacy Atkins / The Chronicle
Kerry Harris, 56, who has low blood sugar folds over in his wheelchair after getting sick of lack of food, while approximately thirty homeless activists gather at City Hall Plaza to march and occupy a vacant building as they declare in World Homeless Action Day, Monday October 10, 2011, in San Francisco, Calif.
Photo: Lacy Atkins / The Chronicle
People of all ages march the streets to the Cathedral Hotel to occupy, Monday October 10, 2011, in San Francisco, Calif. They are protesting the waste of vacant buildings that could be used for housing the homeless.
Photo: Lacy Atkins / The Chronicle
The Cathedral Hill Hotel on Van Ness Ave. was entered by the group Homes Not Jails accompanied by members of Occupy SF as part of World Homeless Action Day.
Photo: Mathew Sumner / Special to the Chronicle
Members of the San Francisco Police Department Tactical Unit prepare to search the Cathedral Hill Hotel on Van Ness Ave. after the group Homes Not Jails accompanied by activists from Occupy SF entered the building as part of World Homeless Action Day.
Photo: Mathew Sumner / Special to the Chronicle
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