SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Demonstrators seeking a cease-fire in Gaza blocked bridges on both sides of the U.S. on Thursday, including a major span into San Francisco during a global trade summit involving President Joseph Biden and other world leaders.
At least 50 protesters were arrested on the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge and 15 vehicles were towed after demonstrators blocked all lanes on the upper deck, with some drivers tossing their keys into the bay, said California Highway Patrol division chief Ezery Beauchamp.
Traffic was snarled for hours after more than 200 demonstrators demanded that Biden, in San Francisco for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation leaders’ conference, call for an immediate cease-fire in the war between Israel and Hamas.
In Boston, about 100 protesters stopped traffic on the bridge connecting the city to Cambridge for more than two hours during the morning rush. They chanted “cease-fire now!” and held a banner with the words “Jews say: ceasefire now” and they called on one of Massachusetts’ two senators, Democrat Elizabeth Warren, to do more to halt the hostilities.
On the West Coast, Aisha Nizar, of the Palestinian Youth Movement, said in a statement that President Biden was “hosting cocktail parties in San Francisco” while thousands of people were being killed in Gaza. Protesters unfurled huge banners and some of them lay on the ground with white sheets draped over their bodies as part of a “die-in.”
Beauchamp, of the highway patrol, called the Bay Area protest highly coordinated and said he expected that more participants would be arrested. He said the patrol supports free speech rights but not a traffic shutdown that could prevent emergency vehicles from crossing.
“This is the wrong way to do it,” he said. “This is 100% wrong, it’s unacceptable and it’s illegal.”
Demonstrations over the war are becoming more disruptive across the U.S. Protesters calling for a cease-fire clashed with police Wednesday outside Democratic National Committee headquarters in Washington, D.C., where Democratic representatives and candidates were inside for a reception.
The protests came as Israeli forces dropped leaflets warning Palestinians to flee parts of southern Gaza, residents said Thursday, signaling a possible expansion of the Israeli offensive following Hamas-led attacks in Israel on Oct. 7.
This was some motherfuckin’ praxis. So proud of them.
- a major span into San Francisco during a global trade summit involving President Joseph Biden and other world leaders
- some drivers tossing their keys into the bay
- Traffic was snarled for hours
Authoritarian US oligarchy arrests peaceful protestors in a shocking display of state violence
He said the patrol supports free speech rights but not a traffic shutdown that could prevent emergency vehicles from crossing.
Hypothetical emergency vehicles
I swear these fuckers just mean their own cop cars
It’s a long ass bridge between two independent large cities (SF and Oakland). I can’t see a situation where an emergency vehicle would need to cross.
They always do, there should never be any reason why a fire truck or ambulance needs to cross the Bay bridge.
and if it does, i'm p sure the protesters would let it through. up until the moment it turns out the "ambulance" is full of cops who open fire on them. after that, they wouldnt let the emergency vehicles through.
"You can protest whatever and wherever you want as long as you get a permit, stay inside the police marked protest zone, and don't do anything violent or inconvinient"
Always people getting angry over how people protest and not what they're protesting against. Genocide is kinda bad, but blocking traffic is unforgivable.
dumbest waste of air you've ever met in your ife voice: "i agree with their message but they should express it without making problems for everyone else"
Canadian truckers are allowed to block a bridge for a month in protest against vaccines but Californians can't even get a day for Gaza?
Blockades are a great tactic, glad to see them used instead of standing in the corner of a park with signs for a few hours.
"This is the wrong way to do it,” he said. “This is 100% wrong, it’s unacceptable and it’s illegal.”
A fun game of "are they describing Israeli terror, or peaceful protest?"
bourgeois media is now running stories with vague claims about "delayed organ couriers" that don't have enough details for independent verification
Funny how every single type of protest is the "wrong type" according to the authorities, why, if I didn't know better, I'd think they don't want people to exercise their freezepeach at all!
Literally braver than the troops. Who knows what some of those angry drivers might've done to them with how many people are just run over these days, even with a blockade.
: "But you have to respect a nazi's freeze peach you guys!"
