Illegal immigrant families and their “allies” proceeded to shut down San Francisco’s Golden Gate Bridge, and they blocked traffic during the city’s morning rush hour in protest to try to get themselves a path to citizenship, according to KGO-TV.
The Details
The station noted that California Highway Patrol officers had been alerted to the situation just after 7 a.m. after several cars had been driving extremely slowly across the bridge – soon, most of these calls indicated that there was about a dozen cars that were stopped on the bridge completely.
The protest organizers told KGO that there were about 40 “undocumented families and allies” and they gathered together to block the northbound lanes of the bridge. They planned to do so for 20 minutes so that they could represent what they see as 20 years of broken promises from lawmakers.
Interestingly enough, the organizers specifically called out President Joe Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris, and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, the station said.
“Immigrants deserve a path to citizenship now, and we can’t wait another 20, 30 years,” organizer Luis Angel Reyes Savalza told the station.
‘This is completely on the CHP’
Savalza said that these authorities had actually extended the length of the protest.
“We held the bridge for 20 minutes. We were ready to clear traffic. But the CHP prevented undocumented families from clearing the traffic,” he added to KGO. “This is completely on the CHP who decided to blockade the protestors and prevented us from leaving.”
Savalza noted that authorities’ actions had increased their protested to last as long as an hour, but the CHP is blaming the protesters who refused to leave when they had been ordered to, according to the station.
KGO reported that officials had to detain several protesters in order to move them off the bridge, and they would ultimately arrest five of these protesters.
“Yes, people have the right to protest but not when it comes to roads and freeways,” CHP Officer Andrew Barclay told the station. “This is a very dangerous place to be, especially when you get people out of their vehicles.”
KGO also reported that the group is angry that immigration reform is not part of the budget reconciliation bill.
“This is the only way we are going to be heard. We have done everything. We have followed the rules. No one is listening to us,” Brenda Zendejas told the station before being led away in handcuffs.