Golden Gate Bridge Protesters Surrender to Face Controversial False Imprisonment Charges

All 26 people who are charged in connection with a pro-Palestinian protest that blocked the Golden Gate Bridge in April have turned themselves in to police after the San Francisco district attorney’s office served them with arrest warrants over the weekend.

The demonstrators each face 38 counts of false imprisonment, trespassing to interfere with a business, refusal to disperse a riot and other charges. Eight of them are also accused of felony conspiracy, while the remaining 18 each face a count of misdemeanor conspiracy. Lawyers for the protesters called the charges politically motivated and said they plan to plead not guilty.

On Monday morning, more than 100 people rallied outside a county jail in support of the activists known as the Golden Gate 26, demanding that the charges be dropped.

“We believe that these charges are politically motivated, [and] are being leveled unfairly against these protesters, who were only engaged in civil disobedience and peaceful protest in opposition to U.S. support for Israel’s genocide unfolding against Palestinians in Gaza,” Wassim Hage, a community organizer for the Arab Resource and Organizing Center, told KQED at the event.

Around 7:30 a.m. on April 15, the protesters shut down traffic across the Golden Gate Bridge, chaining themselves to stopped vehicles, according to a statement from the California Highway Patrol. Organizers said they were demanding that the U.S. stop funding Israel in the war in Gaza, which it launched after Hamas’ attack on Israel on Oct. 7. According to the Gaza Health Ministry, at least 39,897 people have now been killed in the war as it enters its 11th month.

The demonstration, which shut down traffic across the bridge in both directions for about four hours, was part of a wider “economic blockade” of protests across 55 cities and six continents, according to organizers.

Protesters also shut down traffic on I-880 in Oakland, and similar demonstrations took place in San Diego, Seattle, Philadelphia, San Antonio, Chicago and Tallahassee, Florida. Internationally, protests were held in Mexico City; Johannesburg; Melbourne, Australia; Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam; and others.

About 20 people arrested by the CHP were initially released after the Golden Gate Bridge protest. Since then, police and prosecutors have gotten some pushback from legal experts over their handling of the case after District Attorney Brooke Jenkins suggested that people who were stuck in traffic during the protest may be eligible for restitution as possible victims “detained against their will” or “falsely imprisoned” — and should reach out to the CHP, she said in a post on X in the days after the demonstration.

Rachel Lederman, senior counsel for the Center for Protest Law and Litigation, questioned whether the protests constituted false imprisonment.

She told KQED shortly after the demonstration that she felt it was “a bit far-fetched to charge people with false imprisonment for blocking traffic” but added that restitution is common in criminal cases. Earlier this year, 78 protesters were charged with five misdemeanors each — including false imprisonment — after blocking westbound lanes of the Bay Bridge during the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation conference last November. They reached an agreement to avoid jail time in March.

Jeff Wozniak, one of the lawyers for the Golden Gate 26, said he received a call around 9:30 p.m. Friday informing him that the protesters would have the weekend to surrender. He said he feels the case is being “overcharged.”

“Each individual person has over 40 charges against them,” Wozniak told KQED. “This is dramatically more charges than, for example, the Bay Bridge 78 faced. I don’t see what the difference would be or why such a dramatic charging decision would be made other than some sort of political reason. It’s completely unfair. It’s a complete waste of resources.”

Wozniak said a team of 26 lawyers is working on behalf of the arrested protesters and will “fight this case to dismissal.” An agreement similar to the one Bay Bridge protesters reached would be appropriate, he said.

“These are all political actions. There are no serious injuries. People were inconvenienced, but the whole point of this is to raise awareness about the ongoing genocide in Gaza and to demand a ceasefire,” he said.

The protesters charged with felonies, who turned themselves in on Sunday, were posting over $600,000 in bail as of Monday morning, Wozniak said. Other groups reported to jail on Monday.

The first of the protesters is scheduled to be arraigned on Tuesday, and Wozniak said they plan to enter pleas of not guilty.

KQED’s Dana Cronin contributed to this report.