Twenty-five protesters were arrested Monday in San Francisco

baybridge19n-1-webTwenty-five protesters were arrested Monday in San Francisco

 Twenty-five protesters were arrested Monday in San Francisco after stopping traffic on the Bay Bridge with a demonstration for Martin Luther King Jr. Day.

Twenty-five protesters were arrested after activists stopped rush-hour traffic heading from Oakland to San Francisco for Martin Luther King Jr. Day.

At one point the demonstrators shut down all five lanes heading west on the Bay Bridge by chaining their vehicles and themselves together behind a banner with the slogan Black Health Matters, around 4 p.m.

Protesters were arrested for public nuisance, unlawful assembly and obstructing free passage charges about 30 minutes later as California Highway Patrol cut the chains with bolt cutters and had freed up three lanes of the interstate.

The “Black queer liberation collective” Black.Seed was behind the action as part of a weekend of demonstrations under the banner of the Anti-Po-lice Terror Project, the group’s spokesperson Mia Birdsong told the San Francisco Chronicle.

Among the protesters’ demands were the resignation of Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf, as well as the firings of San Francisco and Oakland’s police chiefs and officers involved in recent Bay Area shootings including the death of Mario Woods last month.

A statement from the group, which hopes to “reclaim Dr Martin Luther King Jr’s radical legacy,” added that it also wants an end to city funding of police and increase support for affordable housing.

CHP said late Monday night that all 25 of those arrested had been taken to San Francisco County jail.

Though police said the traffic blockage would have been worse if it did not occur on a holiday, the demonstration left a long line of cars waiting to go to San Francisco and residual delays into the evening.

cbrennan@nydailynews.com

About Carma Henry 24634 Articles
Carma Lynn Henry Westside Gazette Newspaper 545 N.W. 7th Terrace, Fort Lauderdale, Florida 33311 Office: (954) 525-1489 Fax: (954) 525-1861

Be the first to comment

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.


*