Activists protesting the war in Gaza shut down Highway 101 on the Golden Gate Bridge Monday morning, snarling the commute into San Francisco and resulting in multiple arrests.
At around 7:30 a.m. Monday, dozens of protesters stopped their vehicles and blocked all southbound lanes of the span, demanding the U.S. stop arming and funding Israel in the war in Gaza, organizers say.
"A lot of the money that is going from individuals who are working really hard, we don't want that money going to Israel anymore,” said protest spokesperson, Riley Hugo.
The California Highway Patrol issued a Sig-alert at about 8:10 a.m. for the southbound direction of the bridge. Later, the CHP closed off the northbound lanes as well.
Among those affected by the traffic was Kevin Clark who was dropped off by his Lyft driver after being stuck in traffic.
He had hoped to walk across the Golden Gate Bridge to get to a meeting in Marin.
"Looks like it's 45 minutes to the other side. I've never walked to the other side," said the Seattle resident.
But he wasn't able to. Bike and pedestrian traffic was also shut down by police because of the protest.
At least one resident of San Francisco said he thinks repeated efforts to shut down bridges and freeways isn't productive.
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"I just think it's anti any progress that's hoped to be made. It just sets things back. It makes people more angry at a time when people need calm and reason,” said Gary.
At about 10:30 a.m., CHP Marin said on social media it had started making arrests. A total of 26 people were arrested.
Several cars that were also part of the demonstration were towed. The CHP said five in total will be impounded. And fire trucks that were part of the response had to carefully back off the bridge in order to leave the scene.
CHP leadership said this was a demonstration unlike many that they've ever seen before. Chief Don Goodbrand with the California Highway Patrol Golden Gate Division said they did bring in extra officers and staged them to respond because they had heard a protest was planned.
They're charging people with conspiracy because of the coordinated protest.
"You can protest any which way you want. But it is unlawful to block a roadway and to prevent people from getting to work, emergency personnel from getting to help people. You can't do it,” said Goodbrand.
The people arrested on the Golden Gate Bridge will be charged by the San Francisco District Attorney's Office.
Along with the conspiracy charge, they're also facing other charges ranging from vehicle code violations to false imprisonment for drivers who were trapped on the bridge for the duration of the demonstration.
Other Gaza war protests happened simultaneously in the East Bay, where all lanes of northbound Interstate 880 at Fifth Avenue in Oakland were blocked for hours and another protest emerged on I-880 at I-980 farther north in Oakland.
