The California Highway Patrol is warning that tactics used by “unlawful” anti-Israel protesters that temporarily blocked roads and created a traffic nightmare yesterday on the Golden Gate Bridge and along Interstate-880 in Oakland “will not be tolerated.”
The CHP’s Golden Gate Division says 38 people have been arrested following the incidents, in which demonstrators held up a banner with the message “Stop the world for Gaza” and attached themselves to 55-gallon drums filled with concrete.
Officials say the protesters are now facing numerous charges including unlawful assembly, resisting and delaying officers and false imprisonment.
“Attempting to block or shut down a freeway or state highway to protest is unlawful, dangerous, and prevents motorists from safely reaching their destinations,” the CHP said in a statement.
Anti-Israel protesters attached themselves to barrels filled with concrete to disrupt traffic along Interstate-880 in Oakland, California, on Monday, April 15. (CHP)
A15 Action, an activist group linked to the demonstrations and others around the U.S. on Monday, did not respond to requests from Fox News Digital for comment.
“Protesters carried out economic blockades in over 50 cities across the world, targeting the global economy for its complicity in the genocide of Palestinian people in Gaza,” it said on X.
In the Golden Gate Bridge protest that blocked the southbound lane, “Officers had to contend with numerous vehicles utilizing chains concealed with pipes, connecting the drivers and passengers outside the vehicle,” the CHP says.
A total of 26 people were arrested in that protest.
Anti-Israel protesters disrupt traffic Monday, April 15, on the Golden Gate Bridge in California. (KTVU)
In one of the I-880 demonstrations, “protesters blocked northbound I-880 at Embarcadero, where officers had to contend with 55-gallon drums filled with cement and heavy-duty chains attaching protesters to the drums,” according to the CHP.
“This required the use of jackhammers and heavy-duty saws to remove these devices before protesters could be arrested,” it added.
In the other I-880 demonstration in the southbound lane at 7th Street, a group of around 300 protesters stopped traffic, authorities say.
A dozen were taken into custody in relation to both Oakland incidents.
Oakland anti-Israel protesters are shown connected to each other through a pipe. (CHP)
“Our disentanglement team was able to successfully defeat the intricate devices the protestors [sic] utilized, while minimizing the risk of injuries to the public, protesters, and Department Personnel,” the CHP said.