Martin Luther King Day Protest Blocks Traffic on the Bay Bridge

Protesters marching on Martin Luther King Jr. Day blocked traffic on the Bay Bridge after earlier interrupting traffic on an Interstate Highway 80 off-ramp in Emeryville, according to the California Highway Patrol . . .

All westbound lanes of the bridge reopened about 90 minutes after protesters shut down all lanes just east of Treasure Island Monday afternoon. Traffic was backed up for miles.

About 10 of the protesters chained cars together in a row to stop traffic on the bridge, police said. The demonstrators jumped out of vehicles and started marching and chanting. Others sat down in the lanes. The protesters, about two dozen of them, were eventually taken away by CHP officers to be arrested.

All 25 protesters arrested were booked into the San Francisco County Jail on misdemeanor charges of false imprisonment, public nuisance, unlawful assembly and obstructing free passage, according to the CHP.

Members of protest groups Black Seed and the Black Queer Liberation Collective took responsibility for the protest in a statement, citing recent police shootings. “We are here to move towards an increase in the health and wellbeing of all Black people in Oakland & San Francisco,” the groups wrote in a statement. (Read more from “Martin Luther King Day Protest Blocks Traffic on the Bay Bridge” HERE)

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