Gaza protesters were tough to move
Jackhammers, saws and drills were out in force on Interstate 880 on Monday, but it wasn't for a construction project. Instead, the California Highway Patrol had to figure out how to remove protesters from the freeway who had used large barrels, concrete and pipes to try to stay in place.
There were demonstrators doing everything they could to keep the roadway blocked on one side, and a line of angry motorists, fuming at being trapped in traffic, on the other.
As CHP spokesperson Officer Andrew Barclay summed up: “It was a day.”
The protests against the war in Gaza — in which demonstrators gathered
on northbound I-880 near the 5th Avenue exit in Oakland; on the 7th Street and frontage road on-ramp to southbound I-880; and on the Golden Gate Bridge — ended with 38 people arrested. Twenty-six were on the bridge.
It brought a mixture of reactions — including from Gov. Gavin Newsom, who, during a Tuesday news conference about climate agreement in California, said he supports the protesters' cause, but not their tactics.
“I respect freedom of speech and the right to protest. I revere it,” Newsom said. “It's foundational in who we are. And I certainly respect the cause around the ceasefire.
“But I think there's a better way of expressing it than denying people the ability to get to work. Someone in an emergency that can't get to their destination, I don't think that's helpful. I don't think that's responsible. I think there are better ways of protesting.“
The CHP arrested five people at the 7th Street protests and seven in the area just south of 5th Street/Embarcadero. Those protesters shut the northbound direction of the freeway down for seven hours, after attaching themselves to barrels in each lane at 6:30 a.m.