More than 100 people turned out to support dozens of pro-Palestinian protesters who must turn themselves in today to face criminal charges stemming from their April 15 takeover of the Golden Gate Bridge.
Demonstrators outside a San Francisco Sheriff’s Department building on Monday said prosecutors should drop newly filed felony and misdemeanor charges against activists who blocked traffic and chained themselves together on the bridge for hours to protest Israel’s military actions in the Gaza Strip.
“There’s no reason for any institution in this country to be supporting this genocidal war,” Walter Riley, a National Lawyers Guild attorney, said. “Therefore, our politicians, our elected officials such as the DA here, should not be charging people for being part of a worldwide movement to stop this genocide.”
District Attorney Brooke Jenkins on Saturday announced that eight protesters were charged with a count each of felony conspiracy, trespassing, obstructing a thoroughfare, refusal to disperse a riot and failure to obey a lawful police order, and 38 counts of false imprisonment. Eighteen others are charged with misdemeanor versions of the same charges.
It was unclear how many of the defendants surrendered this morning while supporters beat drums, held banners, wrote messages on the ground and chanted outside the sheriff’s headquarters on Seventh Street.
“We’re ready, we’re organized, we’re gonna fight this case, we’re gonna get it dismissed,” said Jeff Wozniak, an attorney for one of the protesters.
Jenkins’ office did not respond immediately to The Standard’s inquiries. But on Saturday, when her office announced the charges, she said in a statement that the April protest went far beyond the actions protected by the First Amendment.
“While we must protect avenues for free speech, the exercise of free speech cannot compromise public safety,” Jenkins’ statement said. “The demonstration on the Golden Gate Bridge caused a level of safety risk, including extreme threats to the health and welfare of those trapped, that we as a society cannot ignore or allow.”
San Francisco Public Defender Mano Raju, whose office expects to represent some of the 26 defendants, echoed the Lawyers Guild by saying the charges should be dropped.
“Public Defenders support the time-honored tradition of civil disobedience, including the occupation of roadways, such as Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. led during the Civil Rights Movement to protest racial segregation in the 1960s,” a statement from Raju’s office read. “By charging anti-war protesters with dozens of felonies, District Attorney Brooke Jenkins is weaponizing the law against people of conscience who are demanding an end to the ongoing displacement and killings of thousands of innocent children and adults in Gaza.”
The public defender’s press release issued Monday evening took issue with the way Jenkins “went fishing on Twitter” for complaints about the protest even though no one was hurt and the CHP cleared the road and faced no resistance from protesters.
“The CHP should be made to answer for the four-hour delay in resolving the protest, which augmented the inconveniences of commuters,” the public defender’s statement continued.
“The protestors are opposing American tax dollars being used to fund ongoing attacks on the people in Gaza, which the International Criminal Court has deemed crimes against humanity,” Raju concluded in his statement. “Our attorneys intend to vehemently defend any individuals we are appointed to represent.”