Author: V. Iyengar, Megaphone Editor-in-chief

📍San Francisco, CA

Image Credit: ABC News

On August 12th, 2024, anti-war protestors were charged with felony and misdemeanor charges by the San Francisco District Attorney.

At 7:30 AM on April 15th of this year, a group of protestors stopped their cars on the Golden Gate Bridge, blocking all southbound lanes on the bridge. Protestors also chained their arms together through metal tubes called “sleeping dragons”, which meant that only first responders could undo them. These protests were organized by a group called A15 Action, and were meant to be a “Coordinated economic blockade to Free Palestine,” citing a need to “shift from symbolic actions to those that cause pain to the economy.” 

This sentiment was further echoed by protestors at the scene. As protest spokesperson Riley Hugo said, “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.” The protestors also held a sign that read, “stop the world for Gaza.” The organization also chose April 15th— tax day— as the day to hold these protests, in order to maximize their economic impact.

Police arrived to the site of the protests quickly and began making arrests at 10:30 AM on the same day. Protestors blocked all southbound traffic, and police also shut down bike and pedestrian lanes. The entire bridge was blocked from 7:30 AM to 12:15 PM, posing a major inconvenience to those who rely on the bridge on a daily basis. 

Following those arrests, almost 4 months later, on August 12th, 2024 the protestors were charged by the San Francisco District Attorney, and are facing charges such as false imprisonment, conspiracy, etc.

According to the affidavit for this case, CHP spoke to more than 200 people who were inconvenienced or negatively affected by the demonstration: one woman who “missed a pre-op appointment for brain surgery to remove a tumor in her temporal lobe”, another who missed a pre-surgery doctor visit for her infant and ran out of baby formula, and another woman who told authorities that her disabled child was stuck on a school bus for hours on the bridge.

In the District Attorney’s press release, CHP Chief Don Goodbrand said “The California Highway Patrol recognizes and supports everyone’s First Amendment right to protest and assemble, but that right does not extend to blocking roadways and preventing the free movement of others.” 

The rationale behind the arrests of these protesters was not due to their beliefs nor the fact that they were protesting, but rather their manner of protesting. It is unsafe to block traffic on a roadway, especially one as important as the Golden Gate Bridge, as it can make it difficult for first responders to reach destinations quickly and can cause people to miss important appointments. 

In total, charges were announced for 26 protestors. 8 of them are facing felony conspiracy and 18 are facing misdemeanor conspiracy as well as 38 counts of false imprisonment.

This protest was one of many traffic-blocking protests organized by A15 Action. On Interstate 880 in Oakland, protestors chained themselves to 55 gallon containers filled with cement. At Chicago’s O’hare airport, a group of protestors were also arrested after obstructing traffic, according to police. Similar arrests were also made for similar protests on the Brooklyn Bridge in New York City and the Seattle-Tacoma International Airport on the same day. All protestors are facing a variety of charges, including unlawful assembly, conspiracy to commit a crime, refusing to comply with a lawful order, unlawful stopping on a bridge, unlawfully being a pedestrian on a freeway, impeding an officer, and false imprisonment.