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(KCBS)--More than 100 protestors gathered on the Golden Gate Bridge Saturday afternoon in a huge anti-war demonstration and 26 of them were arrested.
KCBS reporter Bob Butler at the scene said the protestors walked most of the span northbound when the CHP stopped them and forced then to turn around.
Claudia Hernandez of the All Peoples Coalition says things got out of hand. "Our goal was not necssarily cause a disruption but just to spread a message of peace."
CHP officers escorted the demonstrators off the span. To do that, the officers were forced to close one of the lanes on the span which forced drivers to move from three lanes to two creating a huge bottleneck and backup.
Traffic became backed up onto Doyle Drive and onto city streets in San Francisco because of the demonstration. Northbound 19th Avenue also became backed up.
CHP officer Wayne Zeise tells KCBS the permit required the protestors to be off the span by 2 p.m. and that is why officers turned them around. Nor were protestors allowed to have any banners. "Individuals started pulling out banners in violation of the permit. The permit expired and they were supposed to leave and they didn't," said Officer Zeise.
At least 26 people were arrested on the bridge and a final one was arrested in the parking lot.
The CHP dispatched at least 100 officers to the scene.
The protestors say they want to stop the United States' involvement in the wars overseas.
There is an illegal and unjust war being waged in the name of the people of this country and it is based on a misrepresentation fact, if not an outright deception, to the american people.
The terrorists who perpetrated the 9/11 attack were criminals and not representatives of another counrty. Actually, 15 of the 19 terrorists were citizens of Saudi Arabia...if you were going to bomb a country, why not the one they are from? (or was there concern over oil?)
Criminal law in the US requires that a "grand" jury be convened to hear the evidence and determine if there is enough evidence to warrant a criminal trail. Is it not strange that we had a trial by press and government inuendo of Osama Bin Laden as opposed to a "grand " jury inditement where "actual" proof of involvement would have been required.
What we had was a humiliated government: the Bush administration presided over the GREATEST Breach in US security since the British burnt down the Capitol and White House in 1814. We also had a Department of Defense of $296 Billion budget, that was unable to protect its own Headquarters (the Pentagon) much less the nation.
Do you really think this government was looking for JUSTICE? No, it was looking for a scapegoat, revenge, or just striking out at the weakest target.
Do you know that the CIA had been carrying out "cover" (our form of terrorism" operations against Osama Bin Laden and the Taliban in Afghanistan for over two-years prior to September 11th?
What you had was an "opportunity" not "justice". A trial by government "inuendo" not by "fact" or "turth". The Bush administration and the Pentagon picked a country that had been ravaraged by war for over twenty-years. That had already been bombed into the stone age.
Afghanistan had millions, children, woman, the entire population at risk for starvation... Yes, we sent humanitarian aid, "bagies" filled with lunch in bright yellow bags, the same color as the cluster bombs. If the US was serious about humanitarian aid, hundreds of tons of rice that would feed a population for months could have been droped from the "same" airplanes.
Tell me America, is this what we have come to stand for? Is this what our founding fathers had in mind? Is this a day you really want to celebrate the US military?
I would rather stand alone and speak the truth than march with the masses to the beat of government propaganda!
May we remember todays "victims" as well as the dead from past days of glory.
Stan Scarano
The above article reports that "Traffic became backed up . . . because of the demonstration." However, in the preceding paragraph no less, it states that "the officers were forced to close one of the lanes on the span . . . creating a huge bottleneck and backup." Clearly the CHP -- not the demonstration -- caused the traffic backup, yet we are told that it was the fault of the demonstration. Perhaps if the police had followed the rules of the permit by waiting another 30 minutes, the traffic could have been avoided.
I dare you ignorant morons to try that kind of bs here.
My kids could take you weenies down without breaking a sweat.
with just 300-400 of us (not saying that's a lot, but it is more than 100) we kicked ass and made a tremendous impact. much more powerfull than many demos with many more times that number!
i am honored to have been out the others who had the courage to take it to the bridge. we didn't need the chp's, crissy field's, or the golden gate bridge authorities' permission to be there (or ramsey clark's or the iac for that matter). we did it ourselves!
All power to the people!
Sure it is. Just not a very good one. :)
Who else is thinking about suing?
The point of a protest is to have a message and make it heard. How effectively can YOU do that if you aren't allowed to chant, wave signs or banners, and have only 2 hrs to do it? Yes, the bridge isn't that long, and yes, we could have walked it in 15 minutes. That's not the point. We wanted to have our message heard, not take an afternoon jog over the bay. As it was, we would have easily made it across the bridge before 2 had not the police stopped 5/6 of the way across the bridge at 1:30 and stalled until they had an excuse to beat, arrest, etc.
I appologize for the wavering age of Sophia, the 11 year old girl arrested. 11 is her real age. There was initial confusion at the protest itself, and I remember hearing it go to 10, then 12, then back to 10, and so on. She is 11 years old, it is confirmed, issue dropped.
"If the organizers really wanted a peaceful demo, they would have demanded that anyone participating NOT carry a sign and that they walk at a brisk pace because you needed to be off the bridge by 2. "
No, if we really wanted a peaceful demo, we would have not been violent. Which we werent. The organizers warned us that signs, flags, etc were not allowed under our permit, but left it to our own discretion to carry them or not. I find it more than a little bizarre that it is perfectly legal to carry these things under normal circumstances, just not during this protest. Almost as if we have the right to free speech as long as we have nothing to say.
Oh yes, and thank you countless amounts for your immediate prejudiced comment about all political dissenters being poor single mothers on welfare. You contribute greatly to the cause of social equity and tolerance in our country. My mother just happened to have been, at one point, a poor single mother on welfare. And let me tell you, between going to college full time, raising me, and often working 2 or more jobs, she had no time to go to protests. And just to prove you wrong, today my mom and I are living a "decent life". We aren't rich, but I don't have to worry about what I'm going to eat or where I'm going to stay.
Allowing children to get involved in political matters before turning 18 isn't child abuse. It's respect for your child's beliefs, whether they be the same or different as your own. If Sophia had not wanted to be there, she would not have been as active in the protest as she was.
You are correct. The point of a protest is to make yourself heard. And it is the duty of the protest organizers to make that happen. The protest organizers felt that their message could be made effectively on the Golden Gate bridge, despite the permit restrictions. If you do not agree with that, then perhaps you can contact them and discuss more effective locations. If the protest organizers felt that they could get around the permit restrictions by not self-policing, then they are only inviting the interference of outside agencies, such as the police. So they only have themselves to blame for not preparing their protesters adequately.
As far as the eleven year old girl goes, you have to decide whether or not she should be held accountable for her actions. If she is, then she should be willing to accept the chance of being arrested, which has a long tradition in political protests. If she isn't, then her guardian should be held accountable for putting her in a place and situation that she is not ready for.
And I congratulate your mother on succeeding in accomplishing what is obviously a difficult job. It shows what hard work and dedication to loved ones can bring about. It's too bad that some people consider "welfare" an insult that they can blithely throw around.
Lastly, you're very articulate, and it's good to see your postings here. It's a shame that your words will undoubtedly be lost in this stinking cesspool called the indymedia comment postings.
The Golden Gate Bridge was chosen as a specific point of protest because of its symbolic value to this country. Yes, there is the possible threat of terrorism on that landmark, but the threat is just as relevant on Memorial Day as it is the other 364 days of the year, and there aren't dozens of policemen in full riot gear guarding it then. Generally I agree with this idea, because it is also a key route of transit, and we got quite a bit of exposure in person, key to any protest being effective. On some level, we knew there would be a police confrontation already, as there were police on horses, in cars, and on motorcycles watching us long before we started marching towards the bridge. I also agree with previously stated comments, which say that our first ammendment rights of free speech and free assembly should be valid whether we have a permit or not. Legally, were we allowed to carry signs? I believe the Bill of Rights overrides. Yes, we were inviting police action with our deliberate violation of the permit, but definitely not their violence, because we presented none of our own.
I agree that Sophia, the 11 year old Palestinian girl arrested for felony assault, is accountable for her actions. However, I don't believe that her actions included the actual punch that she was accused of. As of yet, I am unaware of any conclusive evidence that she actually did strike the officer. I also don't believe the accusations of sexual assault by the cops, as I was present and did not see it happen, nor any brutality committed against her beyond throwing her down face first into the grass.
What's the saying? Innocent unti proven guilty? I hope it still applies.
Which brings me to my second point: The first amendment gives people the freedom to express whatever they want. It does not give people free rein to express themselves *however* they want. To use an extreme example:
The first amendment guarantees me the right to say that Pickle and Onion flavored ice cream should be the national dessert.
The first amendment does *not* guarantee me the right to break intro your house and spraypaint in your living room that Pickel and Onion flavored ice cream should be the national dessert.
This is an important distinction. The people who were arrested at the golden gate bridge were not arrested for the *content* of what they were protesting, but instead were arrested for the *method* with which they were protesting.
I am sad that the protest was not allowed to peacefully end, 2 P.M. deadline or not. This child was unnecessarily traumatized while trying to peacefully participate in being American.
sorry forii. you will have to stretch the truth a lot to say that a pro-palestinian rally is not targeted by the police. if it was a rally put on by, say, microsoft ... do you think that the police would attack people? have you ever been to an "officially sanctioned" event where the police started attacking people?
give me a break.
Did the cops ever have to agree not to wear american flag doo rags?
The protest organizers agreed to abide to some restrictions. Then they knowingly let people violate those restrictions, so that then the protest was breaking the law. The protest was being targeted not because of what the protest was for, but instead because some people decided to break the restrictions that the protest had agreed to.
If it makes you feel better to think that all those who would fly the American flag are persecuting you, then by all means continue. But do not fool yourself into thinking that that is anywhere close to reality.
get fucking real.
I have no idea. And neither do you. Stop speaking in hypotheticals and try facing facts.
> get fucking real.
Profanity is uncalled for. But if that is the limit of your literary imagination, i suppose you have no choice.
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Benjamin Franklin (a great man we could use more like him he’d probably be arrested nowadays though) said freedom and liberty is the most important thing, “if we give up some of our freedom for more security we will end up neither security or our freedom”
The main terrorist are the fascists mole police state cops and their related organizations like the riders in Oakland rampart in la and many others in the police around the usa and of course the paramilitary death squads around the world paid for by the robber baron oil companies
I saw what happened was not in the protest though just a tourist on the bridge the protest was peaceful no banners on the bridge the protesters stayed on the side walk the cops stopped the protest at 1:35 the cops blocked the sidewalk the cops stopped the traffic on the bridge so the could get their buses in to take off the courageous protesters that where abused by the chpig fascists
The little girl I saw arrested after the protest near that little parking lot by the bridge walk way about 50 yds from the bridge at about 1:59 the courageous little girl did not assault the chpig the chpigs where pushing the people with sticks she said stop pushing me an the chpigs attacked her after the chpigs tied the little girl up and tossed her to the ground one chpig fatass kneeled on her and grabbed her ass I took a photo of this
If courageous people like the 11 yr old don’t protest the fascist practices of our dictator bush over in other peoples countries more terrorist will be willing to come over here and kill the people that support their oppressors
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