Pro-Palestinian protesters face sentencing for blocking Golden Gate Bridge in 2024
By Carlos E. Castañeda
A group of demonstrators who blocked San Francisco’s Golden Gate Bridge in 2024 to protest Israel’s war in Gaza were set to be sentenced on Friday following their convictions on misdemeanor charges last month.
Seven people were convicted of charges including false imprisonment, obstruction of a thoroughfare, and unlawful assembly after they were among a group of 26 people arrested on April 15, 2024. The pro-Palestinian protesters had driven onto the bridge, stopped their vehicles, and chained themselves together to call attention to the war and conditions in Gaza after Israel had launched a relentless bombing campaign in the Palestinian territory following the October 7 terrorist attack.
Traffic on the bridge was blocked for hours. Most of the 26 protesters arrested, later dubbed the “Golden Gate 26” or “GG26,” had their charges dropped or reduced, but prosecutors found enough evidence against seven of them to go to trial.
Protesters River Allen, Bhavika Anandpura, Sara Cantor, Rocky Chau, Conrad de Jesus, Sarah Ferrell, and Em Tillotson were found guilty of most of the charges, but the jury deadlocked on a felony conspiracy charge which could have sent them to prison for up to 15 years.
The sentencing hearing was scheduled for 1:30 p.m. at the 850 Bryant Street courthouse in San Francisco.
The defendants face a maximum of five years in the county jail. Cantor also faces an additional six months after also being convicted of misdemeanor refusing to disperse.
San Francisco District Attorney Brooke Jenkins has said her office was considering whether to retry the undecided felony count.
The protesters’ attorneys called the charges heavy-handed, and compared them to the punishment issued to pro-Palestinian protesters who blocked the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge in 2023. They were issued a fine and five hours of community service.
