Left-wing activists are rebuking the San Francisco district attorney’s decision to prosecute 26 anti-Israel protesters who shut down the Golden Gate Bridge in April, calling the prosecution a “political stunt.”
Anti-Israel activists — eight of whom were charged with felony conspiracy, trespassing, obstructing a thoroughfare, and refusal to disperse, and 18 of whom were charged with similar misdemeanors — shut down the bridge for several hours to protest U.S. military aid to Israel. Their goal was to “shut down the world for Gaza,” one sign read. Individuals must turn themselves in by Monday.
San Francisco District Attorney Brooke Jenkins announced the charges on Saturday.
“While we must protect avenues for free speech, the exercise of free speech cannot compromise public safety. The demonstration on the Golden Gate Bridge caused a level of safety risk, including extreme threats to the health and welfare of those trapped, that we as a society cannot ignore or allow,” Jenkins wrote on X. “We will continue to ensure that appropriate avenues for the expression of free speech and social advocacy exist and are protected in San Francisco. I truly believe that there can be free expression while maintaining the safety of our communities.”
1/ I would like to thank @CHP_HQ for peacefully resolving this incident & their thorough investigation.
The demonstration on the Golden Gate Bridge caused a level of safety risk, including extreme threats to the health & welfare of those trapped, that we cannot ignore or allow. https://t.co/F0iSB6NCJ3
— Brooke Jenkins 謝安宜 (@BrookeJenkinsSF) August 10, 2024
The Golden Gate Bridge District “lost over $162,000 in revenue on April 15, 2024,” the day of the protest, the district attorney’s office said, and the movements of an estimated 20,000 vehicles were hindered. Some of the victims trapped on the bridge missed medical appointments, work, and flights. One, a surgeon, reported having to cancel and reschedule his surgery schedule for the day. Another man, who had a brain tumor, reported missing his pre-op appointment for brain surgery.
Jenkins was appointed district attorney after voters recalled progressive prosecutor Chesa Boudin in 2022. She faces fellow Democrat Ryan Khojasteh in the election for San Francisco district attorney in November. Khojasteh said that while “I sympathize with those stuck on the bridge,” the DA’s charges are a “political stunt.”
“These performative charges equal decades in prison. It’s a political stunt in an election year & violates our oath as prosecutors to only file charges we can prove. Jenkins quietly agreed to diversion for all in bay bridge protests,” Khojasteh said on X, referring to a separate protest earlier this year. “Why did she do that? Because she knows charges of false imprisonment for protestors wouldn’t hold up in a court of law. It’s dangerous to use the courts as a comms strategy for election. Reality in court is much different.”
In the same post, Khojasteh identified Jenkins’s director of public affairs as “the former national political education director for AIPAC,” the American Israel Public Affairs Committee.
Khojasteh has helped fundraise for the Palestine Children’s Relief Fund, a group with ties to terrorist group Hamas, the Washington Free Beacon reported in January.
The far-left Jewish Voice for Peace Bay Area mocked Jenkins’s decision on social media.
“The safety risk we ‘cannot ignore’: Protesters blocking a bridge. The safety risk we can ignore: 40,000+ killed in Gaza, 10 months of death & destruction broadcast live to the world, millions & millions of $$$ sent to facilitate it all,” the group posted. “This is the moral compass of our leaders.”
“This will go down as one of the most cowardly, immoral reactions to Gaza protests here in the city,” the group continues. “While San Francisco was one of the first cities to pass a ceasefire resolution, we’re also throwing the book at those protesting GENOCIDE. History books will remember this.”
The Bay Area chapter of the Palestine Youth Movement launched a social media campaign to demand that the DA’s office “#Dropthecharges.”
“While the genocide rages on, the District Attorney’s office is wasting public funds to punish people of conscience for protesting genocide,” the group said on Instagram. “In the face of such grotesque political repression, we must remain resolute in our solidarity with Palestine, and with our beloved Golden Gate 26.”
Democratic nominee for president Vice President Kamala Harris went home to San Francisco on Sunday for a major fundraiser that raised more than $12 million. The event, held at the Fairmont Hotel, was protested by anti-Israel activists who accused Harris of being a “killer.”