Seven pro-Palestinian protesters continue to face felony charges over blocking the Golden Gate Bridge, though a judge dropped most misdemeanor charges related to April’s incident, a San Francisco District Attorney’s Office spokesperson told J. on Tuesday.
The announcement that Superior Court Judge Brendan Conroy on Friday dropped 32 of the 44 charges filed against 26 protesters was reported earlier by wire service Bay City News.
Nuha Abusamra, a deputy public defender who represents some of the seven people charged with felonies, called the judge’s decision a win.
“The court’s, and the DA’s, dismissal of the vast majority of the charges against Golden Gate Bridge protesters … is a huge vindication of our position that the DA drastically overcharged these cases,” Abusamra said in a statement provided to J. “We will continue to fight the remaining charges.”
The district attorney’s office announced in August that 26 people were charged in connection with the protest, including eight people with felony conspiracy. The rest were charged with misdemeanors including false imprisonment and obstruction of a thoroughfare. The protesters dubbed themselves the “Golden Gate 26.”
The judge’s decision on Friday means that one person’s felony case was dropped.
The charges stem from the April 15 blockade on the bridge, where protesters stopped San Francisco-bound traffic during morning rush hour, calling to “stop the world for Gaza.” Both directions of the bridge were closed for nearly five hours, according to the California Highway Patrol.
Photos and videos showed protesters sitting inside or standing beside parked cars, holding signs saying “End the siege on Gaza now!” and waving Palestinian flags. Some were linked together using a “sleeping dragon” maneuver, in which protesters connect their arms inside PVC pipes that must be cut through to separate them.
The D.A.’s office described what it said were some of the impacts of the protest, including a disabled child who was trapped on a school bus for four hours; a person who missed a pre-op appointment for brain surgery; a mother who did not have water for her infant formula; and a surgeon who had to cancel their surgery schedule for the day because of the traffic jam.
The judge did not downgrade any felony charges on Friday in part because there has not been enough discussion about potential losses incurred by alleged victims or how the Golden Gate Bridge Authority would be compensated for the loss in tolls, according to KQED.
A statement from the D.A.’s office sent to J. said that several misdemeanor charges were upheld, including false imprisonment, trespassing to interfere with a business, obstruction of a thoroughfare, unlawful assembly, failure to disperse at a riot and failure to obey a lawful order. An arraignment is set for Dec. 6.
Jeff Wozniak, a criminal defense lawyer representing some of the pro-Palestinian protesters, declared a victory.
“Today’s decision is a huge win for our clients and the community at large,” Wozniak said, according to Bay City News. “The clients know their actions were just, taken to speak up for the thousands of Palestinians murdered in the past year and that the initial, overly harsh charges were merely an effort to silence their activism.”
However, D.A. office spokesperson Randy Quezada called it “pretty significant” that the felony charges will proceed. “It can go to trial,” he said.