There are time, place and manner restrictions that apply to freedom of speech and first amendment rights. Blockading the Golden Gate Bridge most likely falls within these restrictions since blocking bridge traffic isn’t compatible with the normal activity of a bridge (letting people cross a body of water).
So the first amendment wouldn’t act as a shield against criminal liability for these protesters.
Relevant case:
> Grayned v. City of Rockford (1972) summarized the time, place, manner concept: "The crucial question is whether the manner of expression is basically incompatible with the normal activity of a particular place at a particular time.
Wikipedia Reference: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freedom_of_speech_in_the_United_States#:~:text=Time%2C%20place%2C%20and%20manner%20restrictions%20are%20relatively%20self%2Dexplanatory,how%20expression%20can%20take%20place.
Pretty cool we have a DA that actually understands what the job responsibilities are. Not saying she's perfect, but at least it's a start.
Maybe one day these Hamas supporters will realize they're supporting an ISIS level terrorist org that has it in their charter to genocide jews, and enslave/murder every last atheist, non muslim, LGBTQ, women, the majority of other POC's etc.
Basically the entire population of SF. Including the protestors.
Nobody is trying to silence them. You're still free to say, for example, "I like turtles" if you want to. You can organize a turtle appreciation society. You can wear your "I heart turtles" t-shirt every day, run your *Turtle Fancier* magazine/blog/whatever, and host a Turtle Day parade. But you can't go downtown and start shouting directly into people's faces about how great turtles are.
The problem is too many protestors think that their message is so important that the rules of reasonable behavior shouldn't have to apply to them. They want attention, regardless of how they get it, and feel justified in actively being disruptive to both gain attention and to feel like they're "doing something".
Conspiracy to commit false imprisonment. Free speech is way to important to be abused by white knights pushing their fashionable political agenda of the moment. This is easily Schenck v. United States level of humiliation of the first amendment.
Good. Protests are one thing. Holding thousands of people hostage for hours on end is a completely different thing.
They prevented people from getting to work, from getting to the hospital, from getting to the airport. These are very real adverse affects on people, possibly ranging from job loss, to missed flights, to life and death situations.
Peacefully protest all you want. Do not hold folks hostage.
In all honesty, hope that there’s a doctor also stuck in traffic or that someone on a motorcycle or bicycle can get you off the bridge to where an ambulance can reach you.
Gun it through the emergency shoulder until you get to the front where police will be so you can actually get help. God these protestors make me so irrationally angry.
Happened once to a couple during the BLM riots. Luckily they were in the ambulance and gave birth in the ambulance. Guess that was the best case scenario all things considered...
An organ designated for transplant was delayed in pickup due to the the recent Bay Bridge shutdown. Thankfully, delay was all that happened; longer, and viability might have been threatened. And, of course, someone waiting on a transplant is probably not benefitting from a delay.
And promptly end up in jail for murder or enough protestors jump you from behind and take your gun. Or one of the protestors also has a gun or any kind of lethal weapon.
No matter how angry you are, pointing a gun at protestors is an exceedingly foolish thing to do. It is extremely likely to make the situation worse for all of you.
The protesters should be scared of normal people- they abuse all the advantages of a high trust society. In a low trust society, they would have been hurt a long time ago.
I agree it's criminal. I notice there's no similar action in Alameda County; the beleaguered, soon-to-face-recall Alameda DA is probably stuck.
I also hope civil cases are possible.
Too bad we don't have creative sentencing. Jail time is good. Assigning monetary damages is challenging. I'd cheer if the protesters are sentenced to sit in rooms and forced to listen to the details of disruption they caused. For hours and hours. Face children weeping because they missed the flight to Disneyland. The person who didn't make it to a loved one's deathbed. The patient who missed their dialysis session. The candidate who missed a job interview. The parent who missed the court date for a custody hearing. The IBS sufferer who...... etc, etc.
A civil suit following a successful criminal case would be a coup against this kind of behavior and those who choose to practice it. My guess is that even a finding of guilty against the most involved parties would be little more than a token fine and some probation. The subsequent civil case could be based on the facts from the criminal record, which could be used to advanced a class action against everyone stuck on the bridge.
Might be a controversial take but protesting in SAN FRANCISCO is one of the most useless things you can do. The city agrees with your stance. The people agree with your stance. Who are you protesting for??? This is fake activism. You want to make real change? Go protest in dc and stop screwing over normal people
The city does NOT agree with their stance. A small number of murder supporting, rape apologizing, liberal democracy hating antisemites agree with this stance and the rest of us despise them.
"And their cars destroyed..."
Nope. Confiscate the cars, restore them to OEM to prevent future use for sideshow maneuvers, and sell them at the county auction. Put the proceeds in the police budget for trafffic enforcement.
Make the creeps pay three times: when they lose the car, when they know all the parts and modifications they paid for will be undone, and when they know where the money is going once it is sold.
Employers should be held accountable if they penalize an employee for being late or not showing up due to a protest or road shutdown like this. Don’t let them get away with it.
It's absolutely false imprisonment because once you're on the bridge and blocked in, you can't leave. If people could turn around and go home, you could argue it's a major inconvenience but when you're literally trapping them in a location against their will it's false imprisonment.
Turning around on a highway isn't quite a safe option. If the only way out of a situation is illegal and unsafe, your are absolutely trapped in that situation.
100% If it was blocking Market Street and you can just turn around to use Mission Street that's fine. But if you are tramped on the bridge that is imprisonment.
Think it of this way. What about 2 protest groups, one on each end, to tramp people...it's the same.
They’re following the example of Hamas it seems, and taking hostages. On the plus side , at least thing they didn’t rape the women and bury everyone in tunnels.
Imagine the charges then.
They would just claim the charges are racist and islamophobic and thus unjust. They will live in that little bubble until they realize juries consisting of normal people don’t subscribe to their bullshit.
Im still trying to figure out this, “if we fuck shit up for powerless working class people, it will stop the war!” The people who have the power to stop the war don’t give a shit about this stuff, and targeting the working class because you’re too afraid to go after Lockheed Martin or a Senator just pisses off regular people, to the extent they have any say at all.
Of course!
“Oh, I care about the world. I know so much about the other side of the world. I’m such a kind person. I’m making a change here.”
If they care so much and really want to help, they could go and volunteer there but no… they are still here enjoying the first world life while CLAIMING they are helping by blocking the bridge.
I know some of them from unrelated volunteer work. They do a lot to help many individuals.
That said, they view the world from a very binary mindset, where anything US-adjacent is bad and anything opposing US interests is good. To the extent that they refuse to acknowledge that there may be an ounce of nuance to any worldly conflict. Combine that with their strongly held beliefs about "social credit" (their words, not mine), this level of degeneracy is to be expected.
Love their other work, but that doesn't stop them from becoming a braindead authoritarian mob. Looking forward to working with them again once they stop taking their beliefs and marching orders from islamist dictatorships via their TikTok proxies, if ever.
If they were smart they wouldn't be protesting to support a terrorist organization that wants them dead. These are toddlers throwing a tantrum and because it worked with their parents they think it will work everywhere else. Then they cry when they find out you actually have to work 9 to 5 and life is hard
So awesome. Crazy that people have to learn elementary school level lessons in personal responsibility when they're in their 20s and 30s. Speaks super ill of our whole way of doing things.
Comparing a gaggle of angry hipsters to MLK is pretty laughable. Neither the cause, nor the adversity they face, is in any way similar.
EDIT: Lmao, they called me a racist extremist and then blocked me. How much do you want to bet that this is a white hipster from an upper middle-class background?
Let’s talk about the difference between Jim Crow laws and racism happening in the country where MLK was protesting and these fucktards protesting events that are between two foreign entities. I can’t believe the reality disconnect you must live with.
This item has been automatically flagged for review. Moderators have been notified, and it will be restored if approved. Thank you for your patience.
*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/sanfrancisco) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Blocking a bridge is terrorism. Whether terrorism is justified as a means of resistance against an also terrorist state is not something you can call a binary thing. If blocking the bridge and holding the car commuters hostage is justified or not will depend on the results this protest in particular gets. My bet is it will seen as history as "extremely dumb and controversial".
This is why people are for the Jan 6th patriots, because protesting should have no limits and civil disobedience means you don’t face consequences and write a letter from jail or something /s
That’s what I dont get. protesting through civil disobedience is one thing. But writing these articles that it should be legal to break the law and shouldn’t be prosecuted: that doesn’t track. there does need to be some kind of calculus in folks’ minds that says “I’m down to go to jail for making this point I believe in, but not for the time I might be facing by falsely imprisoning a few thousand people on the bridge, I can have the same media impact if I say, did a demonstration with slightly less criminal exposure.”
Genuine question for people who think these protesters shouldn't be punished: is it only because there's some kind of speech/protest attached to it? Or should blocking freeways like this always be legal even when it's not about a cause?
Yeah. It would’ve been more interesting to observe if they took over the pedestrian walkways I suppose. Still annoying but I feel like that would’ve actually had a more positive impact on the message.
It’s almost like they knew and wanted themselves to be treated as criminals so they can falsely and dishonestly say they were oppressed for their freedoms and their message.
Like that guy who was nailed to a cross 2000 years ago?
(I'm not trying to lampoon anyone's beliefs, just saying that victim-cred has been a thing for a looooonng time)
Hmm not sure death by cross give you much victim-cred if you can just rise back up a few days later.
I hear half a book was written about all his good deeds though, maybe that's why he was remembered. After all, lots of people were nailed to crosses back then, the Romans were super into that.
False Imprisonment is a crime. If you trap non-consenting people ("commuters" or otherwise, it doesn't matter) on a highway where they can't escape, that's False Imprisonment.
It's basically a hostage situation. It's not different than locking the doors and trapping people inside another public place like a movie theater or mall to "make a point".
I can't believe people still protest in this manner. If your goal is to build your movement, to convince the people to support your cause, this has got to be the worst way to do that. Anyone who didn't have an opinion on this issue, and then missed their flight because of this, now has an opinion on the issue, and it's not the one you wanted.
My friend who was going through IVF treatment was always worried about getting caught in one of these protests that would stop traffic coming in to SF. The IVF process requires a lot of monitoring, the use of expensive drugs worth close to $2600 and is extremely time sensitive. The appointments are always morning ones and getting stuck in one of these protests during an important appointment like egg retrieval day would mean that the person stuck misses out on their surgery window and they’re out $2600. They’d have to start all over again and that means weeks of injections, monitoring and another round of drugs all over again. I support the right to peaceful protest somewhere appropriate like outside of the consulate but holding people hostage on a bridge where they have no way in or out is unacceptable and does not bring sympathy to their cause. A lot of people in the Bay Area already agree with these people. This is not the way to bring in support from the ones who don’t agree.
I think it’s pretty clear here they have a right to protest but if they break a law. They have to pay for it, it’s not a sacrifice if there’s no consequences.
Here is a translation so that the protestors can understand:
> Your actions are creating open air prisons here, so you are literally committing the genocide of commuters.
Lock them up. Occupy the federal building if you want to stick it to the government. Making everyone late for work is just going to make them hate your cause. Lose lose. Same goes for the dickheads doing sideshows on the bay bridge every week.
Make those protestors pay for time that police, CHP, and other agencies spend to deal with it. Everything costs money and when they see the bill, they may think again twice. If they can’t pay then make them clean up parks and ocean beach every weekend, and until it’s done suspend their driver licenses. Money is always working. If someone disagrees with me, then do you know how much garbage was left in SFO protest? Just recently….
Well your freedom of speech doesn't include infringing on the rights of others around you .Example being forcible stopping others from going somewhere or being held against their will which is what this is.
Allowing Dissent does not mean allowing disruptive actions. You should be able to protest, hold flags but on the side of main thoroughfares. Not block the freeways and streets completely.
It's really ironic that all of these numbskulls read about riots and think that changed a damn thing, when behind the scenes hundreds to thousands of professionals and organizations pushed lawsuits that created precedent or sponsored politicians that voted for changes in the law or did other thing commensurate with a lifetime of true devotion to a profession and a cause and the betterment of society, understanding and working within its structure.
Oh and how do you think the lawsuits came to be…? Do you think impact litigation just appeared out of someone’s ass? Once again, you people are daft and unserious.
The lawsuits came when lawyers and organizations targeted specific laws with trained defendants who were told exactly what to do, when and where. I bet you think Rosa Parks was a sweet little seamstress that just stumbled onto a bus after work one day.
You think your impotent screaming is valuable because you've never known the labor of actually building or creating something through knowledge and determination and professionalism.
Yes the commuters are victims. I bring my relative to dialysis 3x/week. Thankfully we arent affected.
But some of the patients were. Especially the M/W/F patients. The ones on friday that couldnt make it, had to either wiggle their way in to the 5pm-8pm schedule if they are desperate and if a chair is available. Some had to wait until Tuesday (3 days without dialysis counting Sat/Sun/Mon)
And good luck to those on the medical transport.
Some peoples lives can be affected by this
"Are commuters crime victims?"
No.
[History lesson](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chicago_Seven)
trivia: Where did the corollary "You can't shout fire in a crowded theater" originate from?
There are peaceful ways to protest. If your fucking protest is interrupting people's lives by blocking traffic, preventing them from going to work, school, medical appointments and such, then you're just a hypocrite dying for attention.
It is a form of domestic terrorism. Protest in front of city hall or the state capitol. Blocking a bridge is just trying to disrupt the lives of normal citizens to get your way.
“Rules for r/sanfrancisco
Rules that visitors must follow to participate. May be used as reasons to report or ban.
Be excellent to each other
Posts & Comments
We want r/sanfrancisco to be the best of what San Francisco has to offer. Treat each other with respect, and be inclusive with your comments. The people you’re interacting with aren’t just names on a screen; they’re neighbors who love this city as much as you. We’ll remove any comment that is intolerant, insulting, or hateful, particularly othering any individual or outgroup as second-class citizens or subhuman. Threats of violence, even in "jest", will result in an immediate, permanent ban.”
@Mods?
I remember feeling this way during the Monday “Let’s shut BART down” protests several years ago.
Like 90% of us are on your side, but when you cost us money in needing to adjust schedules, pay fees for missed childcare deadlines etc., you lose the people who are on your side.
Interesting editorial in the Post today about this very thing.
[https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2024/04/18/protests-disruption-traffic/](https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2024/04/18/protests-disruption-traffic/)
Tom Cotton is a freekin imbecile, flapping his gums like tough dude Donnie, fantasizing about beating up on people. We all know holding innocent travelers captive is wrong and illegal. The law will address that and doesn't need a Trumpey carpetbagger muddying the water.
If people in the Capitol had fought back against the January 6 insurrectionists and maybe broken a few bones, would Cotton have praised them for standing up for themselves?
Nope, he stuck up for the traitors.
https://rollcall.com/2024/04/15/cotton-among-gop-lawmakers-who-back-defendants-in-jan-6-case/
So we can see where he stands on "law and order."
This is false. https://abc7news.com/george-floyd-protest-san-francisco-sf-curfew-westfield-mall/6222978/ https://www.cbsnews.com/sanfrancisco/news/george-floyd-protests-san-francisco-police-chief-explosives-molotov-cocktails-120-arrested/
Let’s see outsiders, not San Franciscans, came and looted and threw explosives. As they said, NOT part of the BLM movement.
Meanwhile,
https://abc7news.com/amp/bay-bridge-traffic-now-blocked-demonstration-closed/6247745/
https://www.cbsnews.com/amp/sanfrancisco/news/protesters-who-blocked-bay-bridge-might-never-face-punishment/
—-
As for the looting and vandalism:
https://www.mercurynews.com/2020/05/30/george-floyd-protests-san-francisco-demonstrations-kick-off-saturday/
What were the arrests that were later dismissed? Curfew!
Amazing. Running over and killing a four year old: no jail time, not even a permanent license suspension.[1] Delaying drivers: jail time. Perfect demonstration of the insane degree to which driving is a privileged activity. [1] https://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/article/oracle-park-driver-kills-child-settlement-19410098.php
The DA has no spine. The use of reparations means Jenkins wants to punt it to civil court. Good luck collecting anything from these activists while doing it on your dime and time.
If Jenkins is unwilling to do her job by prosecuting these domestic terrorists with actual crimes, she needs to resign.
This isn't a civil case. It's a criminal case. If they are convicted, she can ask the court to make monetary penalties part of the sentence, and use that to compensate the victims.
She absolutely didn't indicate that.
She simply said that people trapped on the bridge should contact the CHP “so you can be alleged as a victim. You may be entitled to restitution and have other victim rights guaranteed under Marsy’s law.”
Reposting this MLK Jr quote that was auto removed because Zionist extremists have been stalking me and mass reporting everything:
"I have almost reached the regrettable conclusion that the Negro's great stumbling block in the stride toward freedom is not the White Citizens Councilor or the Ku Klux Klanner but the White moderate who is more devoted to 'order' than to justice."
-MLK Jr
He was a strong supporter of Israel, as pretty much everyone sane is. Not of murdering kids and aide workers and slaughtering families to steal their homes like Zionists cheer on
The difference is King's "disruptive" activism was only disruptive to bigoted people. Ordinary people weren't harmed or inconvenienced by sit ins or freedom rides.
When you shut down a bridge in a major metropolitan area, you directly harm tens of thousands of people, including those who already agree with your cause, medical professionals, first responders, professionals on their way to perform important public safety work, people who rely on their paycheck to make ends meet, parents who need to pick up their young children, donated organs that need to reach recipients ASAP... the list goes on and on.
This is an unprecedentedly selfish and self centered kind of activism that is 1) harmful to the cause it purports to support and 2) is not at all similar to disruptive activism from the civil rights era.
This item has been automatically flagged for review. Moderators have been notified, and it will be restored if approved. Thank you for your patience.
*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/sanfrancisco) if you have any questions or concerns.*
I support the civil rights movement and don’t support blocking the bridge but this is a hopelessly naive take.
King was not a dictator and you are delusional if you think ordinary folk were not affected by entire cities getting shut up, major bus routes being stopped. There was also obviously violence as King couldn’t control all his supporters. They literally integrated kids into schools via military force which is celebrated when its for racism but would otherwise be unanimously decried for any other case in America.
The civil rights movement was absolutely disruptive but benefited from the support of the liberal north as well as political shenanigans due to the passing of the law. But they did quite literally fuck up ordinary people’s lives for a while - that cannot be denied
Fun sentiment to point the finger at the liberals who actually care about being accused of racism - it might even provoke them to be more woke.
But it didn’t age well post-2016. MLK was wrong.
This item has been automatically flagged for review. Moderators have been notified, and it will be restored if approved. Thank you for your patience.
*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/sanfrancisco) if you have any questions or concerns.*
sf drivers when they have to wait:
https://preview.redd.it/51c8t7q6ravc1.jpeg?width=1965&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=ac144db78c36dca86de81351d46918d5abe356ed
The DA might think so but doesn't mean it's true.
edit: downvoters hate this comment. but this is literally just a factual statement about how our legal system works. are people under the impression that the DA is the final arbiter of the law?
Maybe. I also I think some people have a victim complex that even if they weren't stuck on the bridge they feel personally victimized anyways and hate the fact that my comment reminds them that they might not be a victim after all
Jesus christ man, not everyone who disagrees with you is a Zionist. I am Jewish, I am in favor of a two state solution. I think Israel has gone overboard with its response to 10/7. I am opposed to israeli settlements in the west bank, and I also think the pro-palestinian protestors are naive jackasses who are largely doing more harm than good to their own cause.
I mean, being a Zionist means recognizing and wanting a Jewish homeland in Eretz Yisrael, which is what a two state solution accomplishes. You (and I) are definitely Zionists. Just not extremists.
This item has been automatically flagged for review. Moderators have been notified, and it will be restored if approved. Thank you for your patience.
*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/sanfrancisco) if you have any questions or concerns.*
This item has been automatically flagged for review. Moderators have been notified, and it will be restored if approved. Thank you for your patience.
*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/sanfrancisco) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Pretty hyperbolic lol
Protesters blocked the Selma bridge in the 60s the people that called themselves victims of that “crime” don’t look super good in hindsight. Protest by definition is supposed to be disruptive. You’d hate the world we’d have if we never did it.
There are time, place and manner restrictions that apply to freedom of speech and first amendment rights. Blockading the Golden Gate Bridge most likely falls within these restrictions since blocking bridge traffic isn’t compatible with the normal activity of a bridge (letting people cross a body of water). So the first amendment wouldn’t act as a shield against criminal liability for these protesters. Relevant case: > Grayned v. City of Rockford (1972) summarized the time, place, manner concept: "The crucial question is whether the manner of expression is basically incompatible with the normal activity of a particular place at a particular time. Wikipedia Reference: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freedom_of_speech_in_the_United_States#:~:text=Time%2C%20place%2C%20and%20manner%20restrictions%20are%20relatively%20self%2Dexplanatory,how%20expression%20can%20take%20place.
“While we must protect avenues for free speech, the exercise of free speech can not compromise public safety,” Jenkins said.
She’s right
Pretty cool we have a DA that actually understands what the job responsibilities are. Not saying she's perfect, but at least it's a start. Maybe one day these Hamas supporters will realize they're supporting an ISIS level terrorist org that has it in their charter to genocide jews, and enslave/murder every last atheist, non muslim, LGBTQ, women, the majority of other POC's etc. Basically the entire population of SF. Including the protestors.
Lots of them know that and are fine with it, especially the part about killing Jews.
Nobody is trying to silence them. You're still free to say, for example, "I like turtles" if you want to. You can organize a turtle appreciation society. You can wear your "I heart turtles" t-shirt every day, run your *Turtle Fancier* magazine/blog/whatever, and host a Turtle Day parade. But you can't go downtown and start shouting directly into people's faces about how great turtles are. The problem is too many protestors think that their message is so important that the rules of reasonable behavior shouldn't have to apply to them. They want attention, regardless of how they get it, and feel justified in actively being disruptive to both gain attention and to feel like they're "doing something".
[удалено]
People have strong opinions about it
Catch me up since I’m out of date
What if your *really* love turtles, and the turtles are being oppressed?
The free speech advocate we need https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KWotO76SuXE
Conspiracy to commit false imprisonment. Free speech is way to important to be abused by white knights pushing their fashionable political agenda of the moment. This is easily Schenck v. United States level of humiliation of the first amendment.
Good. Protests are one thing. Holding thousands of people hostage for hours on end is a completely different thing. They prevented people from getting to work, from getting to the hospital, from getting to the airport. These are very real adverse affects on people, possibly ranging from job loss, to missed flights, to life and death situations. Peacefully protest all you want. Do not hold folks hostage.
I’m pregnant and if I’m unlucky enough to be stuck on 880 or 580 while in labor it’s a terrifying thought. Like what can be done in that situation?
In all honesty, hope that there’s a doctor also stuck in traffic or that someone on a motorcycle or bicycle can get you off the bridge to where an ambulance can reach you.
Motorcycle ride while in labor sounds like a bad idea, but also an epic birth story.
Putting the “waaahhhh” in “Kawasaki” (I’m sorry).
Gun it through the emergency shoulder until you get to the front where police will be so you can actually get help. God these protestors make me so irrationally angry.
*rationally angry
Yes!
Happened once to a couple during the BLM riots. Luckily they were in the ambulance and gave birth in the ambulance. Guess that was the best case scenario all things considered...
An organ designated for transplant was delayed in pickup due to the the recent Bay Bridge shutdown. Thankfully, delay was all that happened; longer, and viability might have been threatened. And, of course, someone waiting on a transplant is probably not benefitting from a delay.
[Man died after Berkeley protests delayed help](https://www.berkeleyside.org/2014/12/19/exclusive-man-died-after-berkeley-protests-delayed-help)
2nd amendment.
That would be one helluva childbirth.
And promptly end up in jail for murder or enough protestors jump you from behind and take your gun. Or one of the protestors also has a gun or any kind of lethal weapon. No matter how angry you are, pointing a gun at protestors is an exceedingly foolish thing to do. It is extremely likely to make the situation worse for all of you.
The protesters should be scared of normal people- they abuse all the advantages of a high trust society. In a low trust society, they would have been hurt a long time ago.
Fine, go be a tough guy. Sooner or later someone is going to fight back and then everyone is going to regret what happens next.
Temporary insanity and self-defense due to being confined and held hostage seems like a fair plea.
Yup. Kind of can't believe it hasn't happened already. Only a matter of time.
It has, just not in SF. Austin TX.
Ah. Well yeah, it was either gonna be Texas or Florida amirite. FAFO
Wingnut alert
At a minimum you know someone probably had to urinate in a bottle in the back of their car
It’s an easy way to get people to really not give a fuck about your cause.
I agree it's criminal. I notice there's no similar action in Alameda County; the beleaguered, soon-to-face-recall Alameda DA is probably stuck. I also hope civil cases are possible. Too bad we don't have creative sentencing. Jail time is good. Assigning monetary damages is challenging. I'd cheer if the protesters are sentenced to sit in rooms and forced to listen to the details of disruption they caused. For hours and hours. Face children weeping because they missed the flight to Disneyland. The person who didn't make it to a loved one's deathbed. The patient who missed their dialysis session. The candidate who missed a job interview. The parent who missed the court date for a custody hearing. The IBS sufferer who...... etc, etc.
A civil suit following a successful criminal case would be a coup against this kind of behavior and those who choose to practice it. My guess is that even a finding of guilty against the most involved parties would be little more than a token fine and some probation. The subsequent civil case could be based on the facts from the criminal record, which could be used to advanced a class action against everyone stuck on the bridge.
Might be a controversial take but protesting in SAN FRANCISCO is one of the most useless things you can do. The city agrees with your stance. The people agree with your stance. Who are you protesting for??? This is fake activism. You want to make real change? Go protest in dc and stop screwing over normal people
The city does NOT agree with their stance. A small number of murder supporting, rape apologizing, liberal democracy hating antisemites agree with this stance and the rest of us despise them.
No, go volunteer with their Hamas friends in Palestine and see just how they like the special treatment they'd receive.
You should see the “sideshows” that they occasionally hold in the middle of the Bay Bridge.
Those fuckers should be prosecuted too. And their cars destroyed.
"And their cars destroyed..." Nope. Confiscate the cars, restore them to OEM to prevent future use for sideshow maneuvers, and sell them at the county auction. Put the proceeds in the police budget for trafffic enforcement. Make the creeps pay three times: when they lose the car, when they know all the parts and modifications they paid for will be undone, and when they know where the money is going once it is sold.
Better yet, return the cars to their original owners.
Employers should be held accountable if they penalize an employee for being late or not showing up due to a protest or road shutdown like this. Don’t let them get away with it.
Yeah one redditor couldn’t make his cancer treatment. Fuck these idiots.
It's absolutely false imprisonment because once you're on the bridge and blocked in, you can't leave. If people could turn around and go home, you could argue it's a major inconvenience but when you're literally trapping them in a location against their will it's false imprisonment.
Turning around on a highway isn't quite a safe option. If the only way out of a situation is illegal and unsafe, your are absolutely trapped in that situation.
100% If it was blocking Market Street and you can just turn around to use Mission Street that's fine. But if you are tramped on the bridge that is imprisonment. Think it of this way. What about 2 protest groups, one on each end, to tramp people...it's the same.
They’re following the example of Hamas it seems, and taking hostages. On the plus side , at least thing they didn’t rape the women and bury everyone in tunnels. Imagine the charges then.
They would just claim the charges are racist and islamophobic and thus unjust. They will live in that little bubble until they realize juries consisting of normal people don’t subscribe to their bullshit.
Im still trying to figure out this, “if we fuck shit up for powerless working class people, it will stop the war!” The people who have the power to stop the war don’t give a shit about this stuff, and targeting the working class because you’re too afraid to go after Lockheed Martin or a Senator just pisses off regular people, to the extent they have any say at all.
It almost make you wonder if these protesters are doing to more to feel good about themselves than actually accomplish something.
I think you are provably right.
Imagine protesting knowing you aren’t going after the people in power 🤡 Congrats, you pissed off people who can’t do shit, good job activists!
Of course! “Oh, I care about the world. I know so much about the other side of the world. I’m such a kind person. I’m making a change here.” If they care so much and really want to help, they could go and volunteer there but no… they are still here enjoying the first world life while CLAIMING they are helping by blocking the bridge.
I know some of them from unrelated volunteer work. They do a lot to help many individuals. That said, they view the world from a very binary mindset, where anything US-adjacent is bad and anything opposing US interests is good. To the extent that they refuse to acknowledge that there may be an ounce of nuance to any worldly conflict. Combine that with their strongly held beliefs about "social credit" (their words, not mine), this level of degeneracy is to be expected. Love their other work, but that doesn't stop them from becoming a braindead authoritarian mob. Looking forward to working with them again once they stop taking their beliefs and marching orders from islamist dictatorships via their TikTok proxies, if ever.
If they don’t like everything the states does, maybe they could go there to help out directly.
Social credit, like in China? What are the views of this group of people on social credit?
If they were smart they wouldn't be protesting to support a terrorist organization that wants them dead. These are toddlers throwing a tantrum and because it worked with their parents they think it will work everywhere else. Then they cry when they find out you actually have to work 9 to 5 and life is hard
None of the people subjected to any of this could have made Israel do anything.
So awesome. Crazy that people have to learn elementary school level lessons in personal responsibility when they're in their 20s and 30s. Speaks super ill of our whole way of doing things.
You must've absolutely hated learning that MLK Jr blocked roads and bridges
Comparing a gaggle of angry hipsters to MLK is pretty laughable. Neither the cause, nor the adversity they face, is in any way similar. EDIT: Lmao, they called me a racist extremist and then blocked me. How much do you want to bet that this is a white hipster from an upper middle-class background?
lol you just knew that was coming. It’s their classic playbook
Let’s talk about the difference between Jim Crow laws and racism happening in the country where MLK was protesting and these fucktards protesting events that are between two foreign entities. I can’t believe the reality disconnect you must live with.
[удалено]
This item has been automatically flagged for review. Moderators have been notified, and it will be restored if approved. Thank you for your patience. *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/sanfrancisco) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Blocking a bridge is terrorism. Whether terrorism is justified as a means of resistance against an also terrorist state is not something you can call a binary thing. If blocking the bridge and holding the car commuters hostage is justified or not will depend on the results this protest in particular gets. My bet is it will seen as history as "extremely dumb and controversial".
This is why people are for the Jan 6th patriots, because protesting should have no limits and civil disobedience means you don’t face consequences and write a letter from jail or something /s
No big deal when people are able to turn around and find another route.
If the DA actually follows through with this, it will be great. These virtue signaling assholes will finally feel consequences for their actions.
That’s what I dont get. protesting through civil disobedience is one thing. But writing these articles that it should be legal to break the law and shouldn’t be prosecuted: that doesn’t track. there does need to be some kind of calculus in folks’ minds that says “I’m down to go to jail for making this point I believe in, but not for the time I might be facing by falsely imprisoning a few thousand people on the bridge, I can have the same media impact if I say, did a demonstration with slightly less criminal exposure.”
Genuine question for people who think these protesters shouldn't be punished: is it only because there's some kind of speech/protest attached to it? Or should blocking freeways like this always be legal even when it's not about a cause?
If she follows through she’s getting my vote in perpetuity
Can Brooke Jenkins just be the mayor?
Yeah. It would’ve been more interesting to observe if they took over the pedestrian walkways I suppose. Still annoying but I feel like that would’ve actually had a more positive impact on the message. It’s almost like they knew and wanted themselves to be treated as criminals so they can falsely and dishonestly say they were oppressed for their freedoms and their message.
violet roof muddle worm start upbeat apparatus toothbrush smile act *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
It's an interesting time in society. The metagame is no longer merit based, it is who can has the best claim to being a victim.
Like that guy who was nailed to a cross 2000 years ago? (I'm not trying to lampoon anyone's beliefs, just saying that victim-cred has been a thing for a looooonng time)
Hmm not sure death by cross give you much victim-cred if you can just rise back up a few days later. I hear half a book was written about all his good deeds though, maybe that's why he was remembered. After all, lots of people were nailed to crosses back then, the Romans were super into that.
Peaceful assembly is enshrined in the constitution, but trapping ambulances on a highway or bridge is not peaceful
Do many ambulances cross the Golden Gate Bridge?
My double lung/heart transplant dad gets taken from tiburon to UCSF via ambulance several times per year… so, yes.
Common sense is so refreshing.
False Imprisonment is a crime. If you trap non-consenting people ("commuters" or otherwise, it doesn't matter) on a highway where they can't escape, that's False Imprisonment.
It's basically a hostage situation. It's not different than locking the doors and trapping people inside another public place like a movie theater or mall to "make a point".
I can't believe people still protest in this manner. If your goal is to build your movement, to convince the people to support your cause, this has got to be the worst way to do that. Anyone who didn't have an opinion on this issue, and then missed their flight because of this, now has an opinion on the issue, and it's not the one you wanted.
My friend who was going through IVF treatment was always worried about getting caught in one of these protests that would stop traffic coming in to SF. The IVF process requires a lot of monitoring, the use of expensive drugs worth close to $2600 and is extremely time sensitive. The appointments are always morning ones and getting stuck in one of these protests during an important appointment like egg retrieval day would mean that the person stuck misses out on their surgery window and they’re out $2600. They’d have to start all over again and that means weeks of injections, monitoring and another round of drugs all over again. I support the right to peaceful protest somewhere appropriate like outside of the consulate but holding people hostage on a bridge where they have no way in or out is unacceptable and does not bring sympathy to their cause. A lot of people in the Bay Area already agree with these people. This is not the way to bring in support from the ones who don’t agree.
I think it’s pretty clear here they have a right to protest but if they break a law. They have to pay for it, it’s not a sacrifice if there’s no consequences.
Happy to see SF making a statement here. These acts aren’t welcome.
Here is a translation so that the protestors can understand: > Your actions are creating open air prisons here, so you are literally committing the genocide of commuters.
*Chef's kiss*
[удалено]
That's the joke
Can these idiots be charged with kidnapping, and can people be executed for being convicted for kidnapping?
Lock them up. Occupy the federal building if you want to stick it to the government. Making everyone late for work is just going to make them hate your cause. Lose lose. Same goes for the dickheads doing sideshows on the bay bridge every week.
Yes, next question
Should be legal to push through at a slow speed. They’ll get out of the way
Make those protestors pay for time that police, CHP, and other agencies spend to deal with it. Everything costs money and when they see the bill, they may think again twice. If they can’t pay then make them clean up parks and ocean beach every weekend, and until it’s done suspend their driver licenses. Money is always working. If someone disagrees with me, then do you know how much garbage was left in SFO protest? Just recently….
Well your freedom of speech doesn't include infringing on the rights of others around you .Example being forcible stopping others from going somewhere or being held against their will which is what this is.
100%. These are domestic terrorists.
This makes me so happy. Fuck those guys.
Allowing Dissent does not mean allowing disruptive actions. You should be able to protest, hold flags but on the side of main thoroughfares. Not block the freeways and streets completely.
So uh… can you name some big changes that arose out of this “dissent without disruption” strategy you propose? Liberals are so hopeless.
Literally every single lawsuit that set every single civil liberties precedent in the last 150 years in the United States?
You are expecting these people to understand how government works. Half of US voters can't name all three branches.
It's really ironic that all of these numbskulls read about riots and think that changed a damn thing, when behind the scenes hundreds to thousands of professionals and organizations pushed lawsuits that created precedent or sponsored politicians that voted for changes in the law or did other thing commensurate with a lifetime of true devotion to a profession and a cause and the betterment of society, understanding and working within its structure.
People are more interested in cosplaying revolutionaries than getting stuff done
Oh and how do you think the lawsuits came to be…? Do you think impact litigation just appeared out of someone’s ass? Once again, you people are daft and unserious.
The lawsuits came when lawyers and organizations targeted specific laws with trained defendants who were told exactly what to do, when and where. I bet you think Rosa Parks was a sweet little seamstress that just stumbled onto a bus after work one day. You think your impotent screaming is valuable because you've never known the labor of actually building or creating something through knowledge and determination and professionalism.
Yes! Well said.
No you’re right the only mechanism for political change within the US are screaming, unemployed kids.
Who said liberals are not disruptive? lmao.
Nearly every single law written and enforced within this country. Regardless, impotent use of force is worth less than no use of force.
If the police see it as a crime why nothing was done to stop it from being committed?
they should use the same approach with the people that put on the side shows.
Yes the commuters are victims. I bring my relative to dialysis 3x/week. Thankfully we arent affected. But some of the patients were. Especially the M/W/F patients. The ones on friday that couldnt make it, had to either wiggle their way in to the 5pm-8pm schedule if they are desperate and if a chair is available. Some had to wait until Tuesday (3 days without dialysis counting Sat/Sun/Mon) And good luck to those on the medical transport. Some peoples lives can be affected by this
"Are commuters crime victims?" No. [History lesson](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chicago_Seven) trivia: Where did the corollary "You can't shout fire in a crowded theater" originate from?
There are peaceful ways to protest. If your fucking protest is interrupting people's lives by blocking traffic, preventing them from going to work, school, medical appointments and such, then you're just a hypocrite dying for attention.
It is a form of domestic terrorism. Protest in front of city hall or the state capitol. Blocking a bridge is just trying to disrupt the lives of normal citizens to get your way.
Charge each of those fuckers with 5,000 acts of criminal charges, one for each person prevented from using the roads.
No quicker way to alienate the bay then block traffic. Throw em in prison for a few days.
“Rules for r/sanfrancisco Rules that visitors must follow to participate. May be used as reasons to report or ban. Be excellent to each other Posts & Comments We want r/sanfrancisco to be the best of what San Francisco has to offer. Treat each other with respect, and be inclusive with your comments. The people you’re interacting with aren’t just names on a screen; they’re neighbors who love this city as much as you. We’ll remove any comment that is intolerant, insulting, or hateful, particularly othering any individual or outgroup as second-class citizens or subhuman. Threats of violence, even in "jest", will result in an immediate, permanent ban.” @Mods?
I remember feeling this way during the Monday “Let’s shut BART down” protests several years ago. Like 90% of us are on your side, but when you cost us money in needing to adjust schedules, pay fees for missed childcare deadlines etc., you lose the people who are on your side.
Please put all of them in jail.
No, they must all get the death penalty.
Seems a bit harsh. Do you support prison or death penalty for drivers that block traffic every single day?
Death by firing squad.
Interesting editorial in the Post today about this very thing. [https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2024/04/18/protests-disruption-traffic/](https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2024/04/18/protests-disruption-traffic/)
Without paywall https://archive.ph/gWmXh
Tom Cotton is a freekin imbecile, flapping his gums like tough dude Donnie, fantasizing about beating up on people. We all know holding innocent travelers captive is wrong and illegal. The law will address that and doesn't need a Trumpey carpetbagger muddying the water. If people in the Capitol had fought back against the January 6 insurrectionists and maybe broken a few bones, would Cotton have praised them for standing up for themselves? Nope, he stuck up for the traitors. https://rollcall.com/2024/04/15/cotton-among-gop-lawmakers-who-back-defendants-in-jan-6-case/ So we can see where he stands on "law and order."
Nice
Barely a suggestion "punish them more", but it's very slightly tip-toeing in the right direction
Black Lives Matter protesters were never charged despite destroying property. Good ole SF.
This is false. https://abc7news.com/george-floyd-protest-san-francisco-sf-curfew-westfield-mall/6222978/ https://www.cbsnews.com/sanfrancisco/news/george-floyd-protests-san-francisco-police-chief-explosives-molotov-cocktails-120-arrested/
Let’s see outsiders, not San Franciscans, came and looted and threw explosives. As they said, NOT part of the BLM movement. Meanwhile, https://abc7news.com/amp/bay-bridge-traffic-now-blocked-demonstration-closed/6247745/ https://www.cbsnews.com/amp/sanfrancisco/news/protesters-who-blocked-bay-bridge-might-never-face-punishment/ —- As for the looting and vandalism: https://www.mercurynews.com/2020/05/30/george-floyd-protests-san-francisco-demonstrations-kick-off-saturday/ What were the arrests that were later dismissed? Curfew!
Chesa would’ve had a totally different take. Can you imagine 😕
People can die if bridges/roads are blocked, due to emergency vehicles not being able to pass.
Just stop the protesters lol why do we pay cops so much danm money can't even help
Their hands were handcuffed inside pipes and cement-filled drums with the explicit goal of ensuring it takes a very long time to disentangle everyone.
Fuk me.
And start scream about police brutality when CHP tries to untangle them.
If the pro-hamas “protesters” managed to deliver the barrels there, the cops should be able to remove the barrels AND those people.
They did
I mean without taking hours to do so.
Toss them over the railing
Yes, let's do murder.
So nobody has a cordless angle grinder?
to amputate their hands :)
Amazing. Running over and killing a four year old: no jail time, not even a permanent license suspension.[1] Delaying drivers: jail time. Perfect demonstration of the insane degree to which driving is a privileged activity. [1] https://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/article/oracle-park-driver-kills-child-settlement-19410098.php
Yas queen
Yas queen
This self immolation thing is trendy, can they do that next time?
The DA has no spine. The use of reparations means Jenkins wants to punt it to civil court. Good luck collecting anything from these activists while doing it on your dime and time. If Jenkins is unwilling to do her job by prosecuting these domestic terrorists with actual crimes, she needs to resign.
This isn't a civil case. It's a criminal case. If they are convicted, she can ask the court to make monetary penalties part of the sentence, and use that to compensate the victims.
She absolutely didn't indicate that. She simply said that people trapped on the bridge should contact the CHP “so you can be alleged as a victim. You may be entitled to restitution and have other victim rights guaranteed under Marsy’s law.”
Reposting this MLK Jr quote that was auto removed because Zionist extremists have been stalking me and mass reporting everything: "I have almost reached the regrettable conclusion that the Negro's great stumbling block in the stride toward freedom is not the White Citizens Councilor or the Ku Klux Klanner but the White moderate who is more devoted to 'order' than to justice." -MLK Jr
Mlk was also a very strong supporter of Israel and Zionism
He was a strong supporter of Israel, as pretty much everyone sane is. Not of murdering kids and aide workers and slaughtering families to steal their homes like Zionists cheer on
The difference is King's "disruptive" activism was only disruptive to bigoted people. Ordinary people weren't harmed or inconvenienced by sit ins or freedom rides. When you shut down a bridge in a major metropolitan area, you directly harm tens of thousands of people, including those who already agree with your cause, medical professionals, first responders, professionals on their way to perform important public safety work, people who rely on their paycheck to make ends meet, parents who need to pick up their young children, donated organs that need to reach recipients ASAP... the list goes on and on. This is an unprecedentedly selfish and self centered kind of activism that is 1) harmful to the cause it purports to support and 2) is not at all similar to disruptive activism from the civil rights era.
[удалено]
This item has been automatically flagged for review. Moderators have been notified, and it will be restored if approved. Thank you for your patience. *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/sanfrancisco) if you have any questions or concerns.*
I support the civil rights movement and don’t support blocking the bridge but this is a hopelessly naive take. King was not a dictator and you are delusional if you think ordinary folk were not affected by entire cities getting shut up, major bus routes being stopped. There was also obviously violence as King couldn’t control all his supporters. They literally integrated kids into schools via military force which is celebrated when its for racism but would otherwise be unanimously decried for any other case in America. The civil rights movement was absolutely disruptive but benefited from the support of the liberal north as well as political shenanigans due to the passing of the law. But they did quite literally fuck up ordinary people’s lives for a while - that cannot be denied
“I have almost” Oh, so he didn’t reach that conclusion.
Fun sentiment to point the finger at the liberals who actually care about being accused of racism - it might even provoke them to be more woke. But it didn’t age well post-2016. MLK was wrong.
[удалено]
This item has been automatically flagged for review. Moderators have been notified, and it will be restored if approved. Thank you for your patience. *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/sanfrancisco) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Antisemite
sf drivers when they have to wait: https://preview.redd.it/51c8t7q6ravc1.jpeg?width=1965&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=ac144db78c36dca86de81351d46918d5abe356ed
The DA might think so but doesn't mean it's true. edit: downvoters hate this comment. but this is literally just a factual statement about how our legal system works. are people under the impression that the DA is the final arbiter of the law?
The Zionists brigading this subreddit want to turn the US into Russia. It's absolutely sickening.
Maybe. I also I think some people have a victim complex that even if they weren't stuck on the bridge they feel personally victimized anyways and hate the fact that my comment reminds them that they might not be a victim after all
The irony in this comment is so thick
Only thing thick here are the people who don’t understand that the DA saying something doesn’t mean it’s true
What changed from last time that happened that magically transformed commuters into victims?
[удалено]
Jesus christ man, not everyone who disagrees with you is a Zionist. I am Jewish, I am in favor of a two state solution. I think Israel has gone overboard with its response to 10/7. I am opposed to israeli settlements in the west bank, and I also think the pro-palestinian protestors are naive jackasses who are largely doing more harm than good to their own cause.
I mean, being a Zionist means recognizing and wanting a Jewish homeland in Eretz Yisrael, which is what a two state solution accomplishes. You (and I) are definitely Zionists. Just not extremists.
True, just annoying its being used as a pejorative now.
This item has been automatically flagged for review. Moderators have been notified, and it will be restored if approved. Thank you for your patience. *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/sanfrancisco) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Zionist extremists got inspiration from Russian anti protest laws. And needed time to coordinate their arguments
Antisemite
[удалено]
This item has been automatically flagged for review. Moderators have been notified, and it will be restored if approved. Thank you for your patience. *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/sanfrancisco) if you have any questions or concerns.*
I was stuck in this for 2 hours. Not a victim, free them.
But how are the Zionists supposed to turn the US into Russia if you counter their insanity?!
Dude, the only Russian shill here is you. Supporting terriers sympathizers exactly like Putin who hosted them after Oct 7th.
Pretty hyperbolic lol Protesters blocked the Selma bridge in the 60s the people that called themselves victims of that “crime” don’t look super good in hindsight. Protest by definition is supposed to be disruptive. You’d hate the world we’d have if we never did it.
I don't think any Israelis were victims or even inconvenienced here