A group of protesters with signs briefly blocked multiple lanes of the Golden Gate Bridge Wednesday morning, causing heavy traffic.
According to the California Highway Patrol, the protesters appeared shortly before 7:45 a.m., blocking traffic with vehicles and spreading banners across northbound and southbound bridge lanes.
CHP officers responded by setting up a traffic break and diverting southbound vehicles just south of the tunnel before the bridge.
About 20 demonstrators have been removed from the bridge after stopping their cars on the bridge, CHP said. It took 20 to 30 minutes to end the demonstration and reopen all lanes by around 8:20 a.m. No arrests have been made.
Protesters' signs said, "Hands off Rafah," and "Stop arming Israel," according to an X post by KQED reporter Juan Carlos Lara. Rafah is a city in Gaza.
The Palestinian Youth Movement supported the protest but did not organize it.
"Dozens of Bay Area residents shut down the Golden Gate Bridge in response to Israel's bombing of Rafah, to demand that President Joe Biden stop supplying Israel with weapons and to call for an immediate cease-fire," the group said in a press release.
Mansi Kathuria told The Standard she was part of a group of protesters taking part in today's action.
"It started this morning around 7:45. And as of right now, everyone is off the bridge," with no one taken into custody, Kathuria said. "We're just a group of folks in the Bay Area who want to see an end to this genocide."
At the bridge's vista point, CHP Lt. Erik Egide said "expressive activities" were common at the bridge and that officers were prepared for surprise events.
"We responded with multiple units from throughout the area to get down here. It just so happens that through the roadway configuration, the Golden Gate Bridge makes it very difficult to get through traffic," Egide said. "They were only here for such a brief time before they got back in the cars."
Egide added that there were no reported injuries, but could not confirm reports that someone may have grabbed at a protest banner: "Something like this is not certainly normal, but we are prepared to respond and handle in a coordinated fashion."
In November, dozens of protesters blocked the Bay Bridge for four hours, calling for an immediate cease-fire in Gaza.
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Editor's note: A previous version of this article stated the Palestinian Youth Movement took credit for the protest, new information from the group says they support the protest but did not organize it.