San Francsico (Reuters) -Dozens of the hundreds of police assembled moved car to car seeking and arresting anti-Israel protesters on Thursday as authorities slowly reopened the vital Bay Bridge heading into San Francisco as the city hosts the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum.
The demonstrators called for a ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas war and hoisted signs saying “Stop The Genocide” and “No US Military Aid to Israel” as they blocked the key commuter route into the city.
Police arrested “dozens” of demonstrators, one of the groups involved in the action told Reuters in an email.
The demonstrators continued to chanted “free, free Palestine” and “Palestine will be free” after they were arrested.
As many as 250 officers total detained protesters in zip ties, after the California Highway Patrol issued a dispersal order to the assembled group.
Authorities deployed tow trucks on the bridge to potentially remove cars that protesters used to quickly halt traffic when the demonstration began during morning rush hour.
The bridge demonstration follows several protests on Wednesday as President Joe Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping were set to meet on the sidelines of the APEC summit.
After traffic began to flow again in at least one lane, officers stopped a Honda that was proceeding with the other vehicles, according to a Reuters witness.
Police ordered the car to stop, and arrested the occupants, including someone in the trunk, who appeared to be a demonstrator.
Two people among those arrested said they were not associated with the protests and should not have been arrested.
Stanford University physics professor Lauren Tompkins told Reuters she was on her way to work, and complied with law enforcement’s orders when she was arrested in her car.
Earlier on Thursday about 200 protesters amassed on the bridge, organizers said.
Several groups participated in the demonstration, including the Palestinian Youth Movement and Bay Area Palestine Solidarity, according to a press release.
Protesters aimed to disrupt “business as usual” during the APEC summit, and urged Biden to call for an immediate ceasefire in the Israel-Gaza war, Arab Resource and Organizing Center executive Lara Kiswani said.
Before the dispersal, protesters chained themselves together through vehicles adorned with signs that said “Free Palestine” among others, social media posts showed.
Several protesters appeared to be lying on the asphalt covered with white sheets.
SNARLED TRAFFIC
Traffic traveling on the bridge toward San Francisco began to move as of about 10:45 a.m. local time (1845 GMT), but was backed up for several hours as a result of the demonstration.
The Bay Bridge is one of the main commercial arteries that links San Francisco from the surrounding region. Tens of thousands of vehicles cross every day.
Claudia Felix, 28, a demolition remediation worker left her home in inland Stockton at 4:30 a.m and got stuck in traffic before traveling onto the bridge and was forced to exit a little after 10 a.m., almost six hours after she left home.
She pulled over to the side of an access road and said she felt stressed.
“It is a good idea because they are against a war but I think they should be more safe and protest in the city, not the bridge,” Felix said.
Vicky Hamlin, 73, a retired construction worker said she was forced off the Bay Bridge due to the protests.
“I think what’s happening to the people in Gaza is so horrific that nothing that happens to us here, nothing that we experience is worth complaining about,” she said.
