'Black Lives Matter' Protesters Block S.F. Bay Bridge
Greg Toppo, USATODAY 10:54 p.m. EST
January 18, 2016
Protesters representing an offshoot of the Black Lives Matter movement briefly blocked traffic on San Francisco’s Bay Bridge Monday afternoon in what one group leader called “a strong, courageous stand in solidarity” with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. The protest took place during the holiday celebrating King's birthday.
Protesters from a self-proclaimed “black queer liberation collective” called Black.Seed had planned to stay chained to the bridge for 96 minutes, to represent the 96 hours of action protests that took place in Oakland over the weekend, said Mia Birdsong, a spokeswoman for the group. But the protest lasted less than an hour, local media reported.
Shortly before 4 p.m. PT, protesters stopped a line of cars on the westbound span and linked them with chains across five lanes to block traffic. The protesters also chained themselves together, according to video provided by KTVU-TV. At the foot of the line of cars, the protesters displayed a large sign that read "Black Health Matters."
About 30 minutes after the protest began, police began arresting protesters and moving cars. They quickly reopened three lanes.
A dozen or more protesters were detained, the San Francisco Chronicle reported.
The protest took place after police in nearby Emeryville, Calif., shut down an off-ramp of eastbound Interstate 80 during a separate MLK Day protest — that one began in Oakland and moved into Emeryville, on the east side of the bridge, the Chronicle reported.
Monday’s protest was the second year in which the group used Martin Luther King Jr. Day for their “96 Hours of Direct Action” protest, KTVU reported.
Elsewhere in the USA, MLK Day commemorations included a similar protest in Minneapolis, where activists braved frigid temperatures as they marched onto a Mississippi River bridge that connects Minneapolis and St. Paul to protest the deaths of two black men shot by police last year in the Twin Cities. A St. Paul officer was placed on leave while the Police Department investigates allegations that he made a post on Facebook urging drivers to run over protesters.
In Columbia, S.C., a gathering of civil rights leaders at the South Carolina Statehouse took place for the first time in 17 years without a Confederate flag flying. The flag was taken down over the summer after the massacre at the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, S.C.
In Michigan, people delivered bottled water to residents of Flint amid the city's drinking water crisis, the Detroit Free Press reported.
In San Antonio, organizers planned for more than 200,000 people for the city's Martin Luther King Jr. March, but an estimated 300,000 showed up, KENS-TV reported.
In Atlanta, an overflow crowd listened to U.S. Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Julian Castro talk about the 50th anniversary of King's visit to Chicago to launch a campaign for fair housing. An overflow crowd showed up at Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta to celebrate its former pastor's legacy at an annual commemorative service.
While people have been distracted by TV reality shows and music "that tears down instead of uplifts," many injustices have occurred and "we're about to create right here in this civilized society the wild, wild west with guns," said King's daughter, the Rev. Bernice King.
"Y'all, we can't keep being distracted, because if you're not careful, we're about to allow a reality show host to bully himself into becoming president of the United States of America," she said.
January 18, 2016
Protesters representing an offshoot of the Black Lives Matter movement briefly blocked traffic on San Francisco’s Bay Bridge Monday afternoon in what one group leader called “a strong, courageous stand in solidarity” with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. The protest took place during the holiday celebrating King's birthday.
Protesters from a self-proclaimed “black queer liberation collective” called Black.Seed had planned to stay chained to the bridge for 96 minutes, to represent the 96 hours of action protests that took place in Oakland over the weekend, said Mia Birdsong, a spokeswoman for the group. But the protest lasted less than an hour, local media reported.
Shortly before 4 p.m. PT, protesters stopped a line of cars on the westbound span and linked them with chains across five lanes to block traffic. The protesters also chained themselves together, according to video provided by KTVU-TV. At the foot of the line of cars, the protesters displayed a large sign that read "Black Health Matters."
About 30 minutes after the protest began, police began arresting protesters and moving cars. They quickly reopened three lanes.
A dozen or more protesters were detained, the San Francisco Chronicle reported.
The protest took place after police in nearby Emeryville, Calif., shut down an off-ramp of eastbound Interstate 80 during a separate MLK Day protest — that one began in Oakland and moved into Emeryville, on the east side of the bridge, the Chronicle reported.
Monday’s protest was the second year in which the group used Martin Luther King Jr. Day for their “96 Hours of Direct Action” protest, KTVU reported.
Elsewhere in the USA, MLK Day commemorations included a similar protest in Minneapolis, where activists braved frigid temperatures as they marched onto a Mississippi River bridge that connects Minneapolis and St. Paul to protest the deaths of two black men shot by police last year in the Twin Cities. A St. Paul officer was placed on leave while the Police Department investigates allegations that he made a post on Facebook urging drivers to run over protesters.
In Columbia, S.C., a gathering of civil rights leaders at the South Carolina Statehouse took place for the first time in 17 years without a Confederate flag flying. The flag was taken down over the summer after the massacre at the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, S.C.
In Michigan, people delivered bottled water to residents of Flint amid the city's drinking water crisis, the Detroit Free Press reported.
In San Antonio, organizers planned for more than 200,000 people for the city's Martin Luther King Jr. March, but an estimated 300,000 showed up, KENS-TV reported.
In Atlanta, an overflow crowd listened to U.S. Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Julian Castro talk about the 50th anniversary of King's visit to Chicago to launch a campaign for fair housing. An overflow crowd showed up at Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta to celebrate its former pastor's legacy at an annual commemorative service.
While people have been distracted by TV reality shows and music "that tears down instead of uplifts," many injustices have occurred and "we're about to create right here in this civilized society the wild, wild west with guns," said King's daughter, the Rev. Bernice King.
"Y'all, we can't keep being distracted, because if you're not careful, we're about to allow a reality show host to bully himself into becoming president of the United States of America," she said.
No comments:
Post a Comment