Jenkins on Saturday announced five misdemeanor charges against the 80 people arrested last month, including unlawful public assembly, refusal to disperse, refusal to comply with police, obstruction of a public street and false imprisonment.
Of the 80 people arrested, 78 were protesters and two others were motorists not involved in the protest, according to an attorney for the demonstrators.
The DA’s office did not respond to a request for an interview. Jenkins previously said the protest “had a tremendous impact on those who were stuck on the bridge for hours and required tremendous public resources to resolve.”
During the dramatic Nov. 16 protest, demonstrators blocked all San Francisco-bound lanes of the bridge’s eastern span for multiple hours, snarling traffic for most of the morning. They unfurled banners calling on President Joe Biden, who was in town with other world leaders for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation conference, to support a cease-fire and end U.S. aid to Israel.
“The commonsense demand of a permanent cease-fire should be echoed by all our local elected and appointed officials,” said Lujain Al-Saleh, a member of the Arab Resource & Organizing Center, who said she was among the protesters arrested that day.
“Instead, some are wasting more taxpayer dollars on criminalizing those who stand on the right side of history,” she added.
More than 19,000 Palestinians have been killed during Israel’s more than two-month-long bombardment of Gaza, according to Gazan health officials. The Israeli military launched the attacks after Hamas raided southern Israel on Oct. 7, killing roughly 1,200 people — mostly civilians — and taking about 240 hostages.
