On Friday, San Francisco District Attorney Brooke Jenkins announced that charges were going to be filed against 80 people who were present at the Gaza ceasefire protest that blocked Bay Bridge traffic in November.
In response, on Monday morning, hundreds of people gathered outside of the Hall of Justice in San Francisco, demanding that DA Jenkins drop the charges.
Lujain Al-Saleh is a member of the Arab Resource and Organizing Center in San Francisco, and one of the people facing charges from DA Jenkins. She spoke at Monday morning’s rally:
“If decision makers do not heed the calls of our emails, our meetings, our phone calls, and our mass mobilizations, then we must do all we can to ensure that our voices are heard. And that means we must disrupt business as usual when there is a genocide that our government is responsible for.”
Polls say a majority of voters in the U.S. support a ceasefire in Gaza and this has been especially evident in the Bay Area, with cities like Oakland and Richmond adopting ceasefire resolutions. But despite popular support for a ceasefire and ending U.S. aid to Israel, 80 people are being charged on five misdemeanor counts, including false imprisonment.
“False imprisonment is an unusual charge, and I think charged largely for the shock value of that charge.”
This is EmilyRose Johns. She’s a member of the National Lawyers Guild, and on the legal team representing the defendants. She said blocking traffic has been a common tactic in the Bay Area for drawing attention to important social issues.
“During Black Lives Matter, there were individuals who locked down to shut down BART. During the inauguration, there was the J20 –11 who were prosecuted in this very courtroom for over a year before the district attorney finally dropped the charges against them, they shut down CalTrain.”
Rami Abdelkarim is a member of the Palestinian Youth Movement. He pointed out that if the charges are upheld, it will be a long and expensive process for the City of San Francisco.
“Legal experts are estimating that this is gonna be a multi-million dollar process. And I think a lot of us are urging DA Brooke Jenkins to not waste taxpayer dollars and to drop the charges.”
After the rally on Monday morning, hundreds of people got in line to pack the courthouse. But around 10 o’clock, it was announced that the arraignments were being pushed back to February. However, the defendants will still appear in court this week. Organizers are asking that people continue to show up to the courthouse at 850 Bryant St.
D.A. Jenkins’ office did not respond to KALW’s request for comment.
