Two days after pro-Palestinian protestors halted traffic and blocked the Golden Gate Bridge calling for a cease-fire in the Israel-Hamas war, San Francisco’s district attorney, Brooke Jenkins, asked affected drivers to come forward. Jenkins said she’s considering filing “false imprisonment” charges against the protestors and making them pay restitution for drivers who were trapped in their vehicles on the bridge for more than four hours during the demonstration.
Under California’s Marsy’s Law, victims of a crime can “secure restitution from the persons convicted of the crimes causing the losses they suffer.”
California Highway Patrol arrested 26 protestors on Monday, April 15. They were all released on misdemeanor charges the morning of April 17.
Jenkins encouraged drivers stuck on the bridge to call the California Highway Patrol and provide a statement claiming to be a victim of the protests.
“When we see these acts happen,” Jenkins said. “And the danger that they pose to the people who are on the bridge who might be suffering medical emergencies, who might have significant things that they’re trying to get to, people trying to get to medical appointments or procedures, we take that very seriously. If there was a natural disaster like an earthquake and somebody is on that bridge and trapped, that is a serious situation, a life-threatening situation and so we do take that seriously.”
The San Francisco Public Defender’s Office pushed back against Jenkins, saying in a statement that her rhetoric amounts to a form of “state violence” and intimidation against people exercising their right to protest.
Jenkins said she supports free speech but that public safety comes first.
