Traffic on both lanes of California’s Golden Gate Bridge has been shut down Monday, the California Highway Patrol tells Fox News Digital, as images emerging from the scene showed anti-Israel protesters holding banners with the messages “Stop the world for Gaza” and “End the siege on Gaza now!” A similar demonstration has also blocked traffic on Interstate 880 in Oakland.
The San Francisco Department of Emergency Management said in a statement that the Golden Gate Bridge is closed in both directions for an undetermined amount of time, citing a “civic demonstration.”
Aerial images captured by KTVU later showed the Golden Gate Bridge protesters being taken into custody and the banners being put away.
CHP PIO Andrew Barclay told Fox News that seven protesters have been removed, and more could be removed. He also said officers are now trying to remove protesters who are chained to their cars and is unsure how long that action will take.
“These protesters are facing multiple charges of which can include, but are not limited to, refusal to disperse, blocking traffic, blocking a bridge, which is a specific penal code in CA,” Barclay said. “While they do have the right to protest, the manner in which they do it is not only illegal but incredibly dangerous.”
According to KRON, seven demonstrators were attached to concrete barrels placed in the middle of the roadway in the Oakland protest.
A flag attached to a fence says, “A-15 economic blockade for a Free Palestine.”
The A15 Action group says on its website, “There is a sense in the streets in this recent and unprecedented movement for Palestine that escalation has become necessary: there is a need to shift from symbolic actions to those that cause pain to the economy.”
“The global economy is complicit in genocide,” it adds. “Join participating cities in blocking the arteries of capitalism and jamming the wheels of production.” Real-time traffic data from Google Maps shows extensive delays building up in the Bay Area as a result of the protests.
