Verdicts Spark Protests, Violence Across California : Reaction: State of emergency is declared in San Francisco after looting; 950 are arrested in Bay Area. Arsonists set fires in Riverside County.

Outrage over the verdicts in the Rodney G. King case unleashed chaos in other California cities on Thursday. The Bay Area reeled under the most ominous violence, witnessing at least 950 arrests, a local state of emergency and widespread looting throughout San Francisco’s fashionable Union Square.

In the Inland Empire, arsonists set destructive fires in Riverside County and one man was shot and killed by a security guard when 50 looters stormed a San Bernardino discount outlet in a rampage police said was spawned by the Los Angeles riots. The victim was identified as Darryl Rideout, 17, of Highland.

A surging wave of vandalism in San Francisco, meanwhile, prompted Mayor Frank Jordan to declare a local emergency and impose a citywide curfew effective at 9 p.m. Jordan said he took the step to stop the civic emergency before it escalated further.

“I don’t want to see bonfires through the night in San Francisco,” said Jordan, a former police chief. In a symbol of San Francisco’s tough stand against the violence, the mayor ordered that all arrested be booked and fingerprinted, rather than cited and released--the typical treatment for protesters in this city known for its tolerance of civil disobedience.

More than 500 people were arrested by San Francisco police, who were kept busy throughout the night by marauding youths who smashed windows, set small fires and helped themselves to goods in the venerable Macy’s department store and some of the city’s most elegant boutiques.

Five officers were injured, mostly by flying bottles and rocks. At least one municipal bus driver was hospitalized when a mob pulled him from his seat and beat him in the city’s Mission District. Terrified passengers cringed in their seats as the scene unfolded.

At Fisherman’s Wharf, the city’s prime tourist attraction, police reported that one of a band of 20 looters was shot in the leg after he threatened an officer with a baseball bat.

At the stately Fairmont Hotel on Nob Hill, windows were shattered and Union Square, the city’s beloved shopping district, was littered with glass, debris and an occasional stolen tennis shoe dropped by looters fleeing baton-wielding police.

The square’s elegant St. Francis Hotel was spared, but guests were on edge as they watched the surreal scene from the lobby.

“Why should people go around wrecking things for no reason?” wondered a bewildered Bob Appleton, who is vacationing in San Francisco with his family from the Hague, Netherlands. At another hotel, the bell captain said some unnerved guests had “broken down and cried.”

The random violence--which included fires set in dumpsters across the city--prompted the closure of several downtown BART stations and some bus lines. Cable cars were pulled off numerous routes.

Earlier in the day, officials briefly closed Interstate 280 after protesters spilled onto the freeway from the campus of San Francisco State University. Later, several hundred students milled onto California 1, forcing periodic closures of the major north-south route.

Eight miles east of San Francisco, 400 sign-waving marchers snarled the evening commute when they forced authorities to close the westbound lanes on the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge for three hours. The protesters also caused the temporary closure of Interstate 80 in both directions near Berkeley. The California Highway Patrol arrested 427 people.

Thursday morning, 700 Berkeley High School students walked out of class and marched with their principal to the Berkeley Police Station. There, they confronted Police Chief Dash Butler, who tried to calm flaring tempers by assuring the students that neither he nor his officers agreed with the stunning King case acquittals rendered by a Simi Valley jury Wednesday.

Some students then returned to class, but at least 75 were apparently not mollified and embarked on a brief looting binge on nearby Telegraph Avenue. The youths attacked a bicyclist, leaving him with facial injuries that required hospital treatment, and then invaded a Gap store, dashing out with armfuls of clothing. Berkeley police arrested one juvenile.

Another round of looting resumed after nightfall, prompting Berkeley police to cordon off six blocks of Telegraph Avenue--the heart of the city’s commercial district.

In Oakland, hopes that the city would weather the crisis in peaceful contemplation collapsed at about 11 p.m., when a mob looted downtown stores and set small fires. There were at least 15 arrests.

In San Jose, police made eight arrests after 100 people staged an early morning protest march from the campus of San Jose State University. The marchers tipped over three university police motorcycles, threw rocks and bottles at officers and then headed downtown, where they robbed a bystander, pelted motorists with debris and shattered the windows of 10 businesses.

San Jose Police Chief Lou Cobarruviaz conceded the protest had caught the department off guard.

Closer to Los Angeles, authorities in Perris--a semi-rural city of 30,000 in southwestern Riverside County--blamed several arson fires on the King-related rioting. In the most serious episode, fire destroyed the Cat Ballou, a popular, country and western nightclub. There were no injuries, but owners estimated their losses at $1.6 million.

Earlier, Molotov cocktails were tossed at a Perris optometrist’s office and at a Richie’s diner, causing minor damage. In response, Perris Police Chief Joel Patton canceled days off for his 30-member force and instituted 12-hour shifts.

“I think this is crooks doing what crooks do best,” Patton said as he watched smoke billow from the Cat Ballou club. “They want to go out and ‘get even.’ All they’re doing is taking jobs away from people.”

In San Diego, more than 200 high school students marched almost four miles to a neighboring school, where they joined about 100 other students in a rally to protest the King verdict.

“We want everyone to understand that we’re upset, but we don’t want anyone hurt,” said Morse High School junior Ajamu Edmonson, one of the rally planners.

As they tracked the violence on their televisions, Californians grew increasingly jittery Thursday, and many began arming themselves. Gun dealers from Orange County to San Francisco reported a surge in business. Salesmen speculated that customers were motivated by fear.

On university campuses throughout the state, indignation over the verdicts was widespread and rallies drew thousands of students and faculty eager to condemn the Los Angeles Police Department.

The largest protest was at UC Berkeley, where about 1,700 college students united in an angry rally that featured impromptu speeches and chants of “Hey, hey, ho, ho, LAPD Got to Go.” Some joined other protesters outside the Berkeley Police Department, and a few demonstrators hurled bricks through the building’s windows.

By late afternoon, about 400 Berkeley students and community members had marched to the toll plaza on the Bay Bridge. Authorities were forced to close all westbound lanes of traffic as the marchers spilled onto the roadway. One of the marchers, Barbara Smith, said she was “outraged” by the King verdicts.

“This is ridiculous,” said Smith, 30, a counselor. “This is supposed to be America, not South Africa. This is a battle we all have to fight.”

At Humboldt State University in Arcata, 1,000 students joined in a faculty-sponsored protest, and dozens later took part in a teach-in on racism.

At UC Irvine, about 500 students of all ethnic backgrounds marched in a long, snaking line through campus and along nearby streets, chanting, “No Justice! No Peace!” and “Guilty! Guilty! Guilty!” and shaking their fists in the air.

While the protesters expressed outrage over the verdict, few condoned the violence now gripping Los Angeles.

“They’re reacting out of emotion and anger,” said Darnise R. Williams, 22, an English and comparative literature major who grew up in South-Central Los Angeles and still has family and friends there. “They don’t realize that they are hurting our community. They are taking jobs. Where are people going to buy food with all those stores wrecked now? The students can’t go to school. This is not the way to react.”

Warren reported from Los Angeles, Groves from San Francisco. Also contributing to this report were Times staff writers Jonathan Weber, Philip Hager, Richard C. Paddock, Ralph Frammolino and Norma Kaufman. Jennifer Packer reported from Berkeley.