“Stop the world for Gaza”: Pro-Palestinian protesters block the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco
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The Golden Gate Bridge, San Francisco’s iconic bridge, is blocked by pro-Palestinian demonstrators on Monday, as part of a global action to protest Israel’s war in Gaza.
Aerial footage shows a long line of cars stopped on the red bridge, while the oncoming lanes are completely deserted. The demonstrators, who prevent entry or exit from this side of the Californian city, have a banner “Stop the world for Gaza”.
The “A15 Action” movement
The demonstration is organized by “A15 Action”, a movement which seeks to block key infrastructure in around 40 metropolises around the world, “in solidarity with Palestine”.
“In each city, we will identify and block the main choke points of the economy, focusing on points of production and circulation, with the aim of causing the greatest economic impact,” explain the organizers on their website web.
More than six months after the start of the war in Gaza, demonstrators wish to protest against the heavy human toll of the Israeli offensive: 33,797 people, mostly civilians, were killed in the Palestinian territory, according to the latest report from the Hamas Ministry of Health.
Israel has vowed to annihilate the Palestinian Islamist movement after the unprecedented attack carried out on its soil on October 7 by Hamas, which left 1,170 dead, mostly civilians, according to an AFP report established from official Israeli data.
“Going beyond symbolic action”
Protesters hope to slow the economy. “We felt it was time to move beyond symbolic action to take more calculated risks against the capitalist system, because we know that money is really what speaks to leaders,” one person told the San Francisco Chronicle. organizer, who says her name is Hayshawiya.
They plan to stay on the bridge until police evacuate them, she added.
Multiple actions planned in the United States
Multiple actions took place in the United States this Monday. A rally notably disrupted access to the Chicago airport, forcing passengers to get there on foot, according to local media. Protesters also blocked access to an aerospace factory in Connecticut (northeast) and a highway in Oregon (northwest). A demonstration was also scheduled to take place in Los Angeles at midday.
Actions are to take place in multiple countries, including Canada, Belgium, Italy, Colombia and South Korea. The A15 Twitter account notably shows photos of demonstrations around the port of Athens in Greece, that of Barcelona in Spain, or in front of the office of the Australian Minister of Foreign Affairs in Adelaide.
“Genocidal Joe”
These demonstrations are taking place at a time when the conflict threatens to engulf the Middle East more widely. This weekend, Iran launched a direct attack against Israel for the first time, with 350 drones and missiles.
Almost all were intercepted by Israeli air defenses with assistance from the United States and other allied countries.
Israel is currently considering a response to this massive and unprecedented attack, which Tehran justifies with a strike against the Iranian consulate in Damascus on April 1, attributed to Israel, which killed seven members of the Revolutionary Guards.
US President Joe Biden said on Monday he wanted to avoid a conflagration in the region. His support for Israel places the Democrat in a delicate position, ahead of the November presidential election where he must face Donald Trump.
Part of the American left and young voters denounce the responsibility of the United States, which remains Israel’s greatest ally and its main arms supplier.
For several months, some have given the president the nickname “Joe the genocidal” and assure that they will not vote for him if his government maintains this line.
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