Golden Gate Bridge Gaza Protesters: Jury Deadlocked on Felony Conspiracy Charges

After the verdict was read, supporters, including some who were crying, flooded out of the packed courthouse, chanting “Free Palestine” and “No justice, no peace.”

Attorneys for the protesters had not disputed that their clients brought Golden Gate Bridge traffic to a standstill for hours on Tax Day in 2024,  but argued that they believed their actions were legally protected because they were “necessary” to save the lives of Palestinians in Gaza.

“Today remains a victory,” public defender Nuha Abusamra said, following the verdict. “We do not fight solely to win. We fight for the resistance.”

Taking a bridge and blocking traffic for a few hours years ago is the bare minimum that we should be doing as American citizens while our tax dollars continue to fund the mass genocide of Palestinians,” she continued. “We will all go home and sleep safely in our homes. But Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank and the occupied territories, they will not … And that is why we will keep fighting.”

The demonstration was part of an international movement protesting the U.S.’s involvement in Israel’s recent military incursion in the region.

Activists also shut down traffic on Interstate-880 in Oakland, and staged similar protests in San Diego, Seattle, Philadelphia, San Antonio, Chicago and across Mexico, Vietnam and Australia.

The group of protesters, part of a larger cohort nicknamed  the “Golden Gate 26,” chained themselves to parked cars and each other in the southbound lanes of the bridge beginning at 7:30 a.m. on April 15, causing a significant traffic backup as commuters tried to travel into San Francisco from the North Bay.

Others, who participated in the demonstration by holding banners and blocking traffic but did not link themselves together, had charges against them dropped or reduced after many agreed to a diversion program, which included paying restitution.

Defense attorneys said the protesters had tried expressing their concern through less disruptive means, like calling their local representatives and participating in marches.

At the time, as Israel was weighing whether to invade Rafah, a city along Gaza’s southern border where 1 million displaced Palestinians were seeking refuge, they believed the escalation was necessary to save lives.

After weeks of deliberation, the jury said it could not come to unanimous decisions on the most serious conspiracy charge or misdemeanor trespassing with the intent to interfere with business.

The foreperson of the jury told the court Thursday that they took at least six votes on the conspiracy charge, which usually ended in a 10-to-2 vote split, with the majority of jurors finding the protesters guilty.

On a misdemeanor trespassing charge, all but one of the jurors leaned toward finding the group not guilty.

Protester River Allen said the jury guarded against overprosecution by not delivering a guilty verdict on the conspiracy charge

“We cannot allow that precedent to be set in San Francisco, and the jury did not allow that,” they told a crowd gathered outside of the courthouse.

Throughout the weekslong trial, the DAs office argued that the protesters’ actions had significant consequences for other Bay Area residents — some of whom missed doctors’ appointments or shifts at work while stuck on the bridge — and cost the bridge thousands of dollars in uncollected fares.

Superior Court Judge Teresa Caffese declined to give the jury special instructions to consider a necessity defense, but at least some members of the jury appeared swayed by protesters’ attorneys’ closing argument.

The district attorney’s office said it would “evaluate our options and consider next steps,” which could include retrying the undecided charges.

“The jury plays a key role in our criminal justice system, and I would like to thank them for their service in this trial,” District Attorney Brooke Jenkins said in a statement.

Defense attorneys said they expected to return to court next week.