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Golden Gate Bridge lanes reopen as CHP arrests 26 Gaza protesters

Police facing a line of stopped cars on the Golden Gate Bridge, with onlookers and emergency personnel.
Both directions of the Golden Gate Bridge have been shut down due to a Pro-Palestinian protest on Monday. Demonstrators have blocked the southbound direction of Highway 101. This is the second protest causing major backups on Bay Area roadways, the demonstration has blocked northbound I-880 in Oakland. | Source: Courtesy SamanQuadir

All traffic lanes on the Golden Gate Bridge reopened Monday after 26 protesters blocked both directions of Highway 101 for more than four hours, calling for a cease-fire in the ongoing Israel-Hamas war.

A California Highway Patrol alert was issued at 8:10 a.m. for Golden Gate Bridge traffic lanes in both directions due to police activity, with drivers advised to avoid the area and seek alternate routes.

CHP Marin said officers started arresting protesters near the bridge at 10:32 a.m.

By 12:08 p.m., all 26 protesters had been arrested, and about 4 vehicles had been towed. All lanes reopened shortly after 12:15 p.m., CHP Officer Darrell Horner said. According to CHP posts Monday, responding officers found “protesters utilized stationary vehicles” using “utilizing “chains concealed with pipes, connecting the drivers and passengers outside the vehicle.”

People hold a banner saying "STOP THE WORLD FOR GAZA" on a bridge with cloudy skies overhead.
Demonstrators blocked the Golden Gate Bridge on Monday morning, the second protest causing major back-ups on Bay Area roads after another blocked northbound I-880 in Oakland earlier. | Source: Courtesy photo
People and cyclists are near the Golden Gate Bridge; one person is looking at their phone.
Cyclists reverse course, as all vehicle, pedestrian and cyclist traffic on the Golden Gate Bridge has been closed due to a pro-Palestinian protest on Monday. | Source: Morgan Ellis/The Standard

An X post from Golden Gate Transit said buses could not cross the bridge and advised commuters to take the Golden Gate Ferry.

CHP also responded to protesters blocking Interstate 880 lanes earlier Monday in Oakland. Seven protesters were arrested and removed from northbound I-880 lanes near the Embarcadero, while five others were arrested and removed from southbound I-880 lanes at Seventh Street.

In a display similar to the one on Feb. 14, several people locked themselves together in parked cars blocking southbound lanes, displaying banners that said “End the Siege on Gaza Now” and “Stop the World for Gaza.”

Riot police face off with protesters holding banners and a Palestinian flag.
Demonstrators protest the ongoing war in Gaza, block southbound traffic on Interstate 880 in Oakland on Monday morning. | Source: Brontë Wittpenn/SF Chronicle/AP Photo
A person is capturing footage of the Golden Gate Bridge; lush greenery and hills surround the iconic red structure.
Members of the media broadcast from an area just south of the Golden Gate Bridge, which has been shut down due to a pro-cease-fire protest. | Source: Morgan Ellis/The Standard
Traffic jam on a road with a man standing beside his car, looking frustrated.
Scott Burry, center, stands outside of his car on Highway 101 northbound just south of the Golden Gate Bridge hoping to head San Anselmo on Monday afternoon. He said he had been waiting since about 8:15 a.m. | Source: Morgan Ellis/The Standard

Activists, who said in a statement that they would stay on the bridge until removed by authorities, described Monday’s demonstration as part of a coordinated global economic blockade in solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza and against the U.S. government’s financial and military aid to Israel.

Protests against the conflict and the United States’ support of Israel have been a regular occurrence in San Francisco and around the region. Activists have organized high-profile demonstrations, blocking major bridges and intersections in the city.