The Golden Gate Bridge Highway and Transportation District is seeking $162,554 in restitution from protesters involved in a pro-Palestine demonstration that shut down traffic on the bridge in April 2024.
It’s the first time the bridge district has sought restitution for a traffic disruption on the Golden Gate, even though the bridge has a long history as the site of protest — a legacy that the district, in fact, commemorates on its website.
“People were driving to work. They weren’t planning on being stuck in the car for four hours,” said Denis Mulligan, general manager for the Golden Gate Bridge District. The district, representing six counties, has authority over the Golden Gate and its respective bus and ferry systems.
When asked why the district decided to pursue restitution for this specific protest, Mulligan cited an anti-logging protest attended by the actor Woody Harrelson in 1996 as an example of how things had changed.
That protest “never blocked traffic on the bridge,” he said.
That protest actually delayed traffic for hours.
Mulligan also cited a Black Lives Matter protest in which thousands of protesters briefly shut down traffic along the bridge in 2020. That was “a different set of circumstances,” he said, because protesters quickly complied with law enforcement when told to clear the roadway.
Pro-Palestinian protesters aren’t buying it.
“It feels like a politicized attack on this particular demonstration, so demonstrations just don’t happen again,” said Manan Kocher, one of those who blocked the bridge on April 15 for about four hours. “The Golden Gate Bridge has been the site of protests that have moved the needle toward justice before.”
According to Mulligan, the restitution is intended to make up for lost toll revenue, which the district calculated by subtracting the number of cars that traveled south on the bridge on April 15 from the number of average crossings the month prior.
On the day of the protest, 27,921 vehicles crossed the bridge southbound, 17,352 less than the daily average for March. Multiply the difference by $9.37, the average toll revenue per crossing, and the result is $162,554.
The district’s demand is “exorbitant,” said Bobbie Stein, a criminal-defense and civil-rights lawyer representing one of the 26 protesters. She said that it’s “clearly something to dissuade people from protesting in the future.”
San Francisco Public Defender Mano Raju’s office provided a statement affirming people’s right to protest under the Constitution. “Now, the heavily endowed Golden Gate Bridge Highway & Transportation District has taken the unprecedented step of claiming to be a ‘victim’ and is demanding $160,000 in restitution.”
“To think about a problem without considering all of its context is a ridiculous simplification of something as serious as a genocide happening,” said Kocher. “Their actions should be driven towards actually safeguarding the people in our communities, and not coming after people who are speaking up to take care of each other.”
A hearing is scheduled for Oct. 31, where protesters, the bridge district, and attorneys will make their arguments.
The bridge district is not the only entity pursuing restitution for the traffic disruption.
In a Tweet on April 16, 2024, the day after the protest, San Francisco District Attorney Brooke Jenkins urged “anyone who was detained against their will (falsely imprisoned)” on the Golden Gate to contact the California Highway Patrol in Marin, saying they may be entitled to restitution.
When asked how Jenkin’s office went about urging people to come forward and how many affected commuters filed claims, the DA’s office responded with a statement reading:
“Every named victim that claims a financial loss is entitled to have that claim heard by the court, this includes the Golden Gate Bridge Authority (funds that belong to the state) as well as losses incurred by specific individuals who suffered personal losses.”
Mission Local was not immediately able to reach the Marin office of the California Highway Patrol for comment on whether any commuters had reached out in the way that Jenkins suggested.
According to Bobbie Stein, approximately 15 individuals came forward about being stuck on the bridge that day, but that not all followed up with requests for compensation.
“I’ve been representing people in demonstration cases for 40 years in San Francisco, and the way Jenkins has handled this is very unusual,” said Stein. “In my mind, it’s retaliatory. She’s discriminating against a group of protesters who are protesting the genocide in Gaza.”
This article has since been updated to include a statement from the San Francisco Public Defender’s Office.
It’s always struck me as an odd and counterproductive form of civil disobedience to significantly interrupt the lives of fellow members of the working class.
Let me start by saying that I have less than zero love for nuttyahoo and his fascist/racist government, long term peace is necessary, but will not happen with him in charge. And eventually not having peace will cause more pain for Isreal, which can not servive for ever like this.
Hamas is pure evil. Raping murdering and kidnapping 1200 civilians is not a peaceful act. Unfortunately, hamas in its desire to hold onto power has been willing to use the entire civilian population as a shield, Ask yourself what would happen if 50,000 terrorists controlled Tijuana and after years of rocket fire and small scale attacks did this to San Diego, and then refused to relinquish power as the US tried to drive them out.
This said, whatever sympathy I have for the Palestinian people caught in this (some are Hamas supporters, or voted for them at one time, FOFA applies, some are not and are trapped between evil people, they all are equably suffering) it gets lost when self-centered progressives decide that their hot takes on this mess allow them to self-importantly disrupt my life.
They have a right to speak/protest next to the bridge. But the moment their speech turns into actions aimed at preventing me from traveling or going where I want/need to go, the full force of the law needs to come down on them.
We can’t toss them off the bridge, but prison stays are in order. Fines seem to light.
And more generally when even causes that I approve of and support are hijacked by people who want to protest via disruption (to make it about how enlightened and superior they are to everyone else) I lose respect for the cause.
Hamas is not Palestinian civilians by definition. Civilians are protected by international law – except in Gaza, where Israel has declared international law moot and “anti-Semitic” verbatim.
You decide what you protest, but protesting genocide is necessary.
Delaying people does not help your cause. It hinders it.
Says you. You’re talking about ignoring Israeli Genocide now, whether you admit it or not.
Actually you are wrong in two ways. First, Hamas hides among civilians. Many “civilian” dead are Hamas,
Second, international law does not prevent the killing of civilians, when they are intermixed with legitimate targets. While it’s a war crime to intentionally attack strictly civilian targets, mixed targets are governed by the concept of proportionality.
And we can argue about it all: if 10 hamas members, including people who kidnapped and murdered Israeli civilians are hiding in a building with 10 civilians, can Isreal bomb it killing all 20?
If Isreal has a way to kill the 10,Hamas member w/o civilian deaths, no. But if there is no feasible way, then it’s perfectly legal.
Where it gets fuzzy is can Isreal drop a bomb killing 100 civilians to get two Hamas terrorists?
I have no doubt that the Israelis have committed war crimes (certainly right wing members of nuttyahoo’s governement have called for them) , and Hamas has committed far, far more, basically everything Hamas has done is a war crime.
What I think is unclear (and we can debate) is how much of the war in general is a war crime?
That is not so clear, and the argument that the terrorists always win, if they are willing to hold civilians hostage to prevent being killed, is not practical nor likely where this all ends.
So you defend the deliberate starvation and genocide of civilians because you might kill a few thousand Hamas hiding among them?
Gee, did you know that’s actually not in accordance with international law, the Geneva Conventions, norms and practices that recognizable US allies would undertake?
It’s entirely the antithesis of defense to target civilians for murder when you’ve got them surrounded for 50 years and are denying them food.
You can defend what you like, but realize now – you are defending genocide. Willingly. Willfully.
As it would strike Marie Antoinette that people could be starve.
Your contempt shows me that you have no concern for the working class, the bravery of the protesters, or the people in Gaza that they were trying to defend.
Please explain how anyone “defends Gazans” by holding up rush-hour traffic 5000 miles away on a bridge, in another continent, inconveniencing people that have absolutely nothing to do with the middle east conflict. Thank you.
Maybe in the case of genocide using US funding and weapons and political cover, the protest is actually important enough to stop a few hours of a busy work day to acknowledge the inhumanity our tax dollars are paying to inflict?
Sure, if they could only give out cookies and milk instead…
Sometimes it can get a little frustrating to watch your own government paying billions of dollars to another government to slaughter men, women and children indiscriminately, and feel that you have no way of stopping it. Sometimes that gets so frustrating you want to get your fellow citizens to think about what it all means.
If you resort to civil disobedience as an act of protest then you should be prepared to accept the consequences, regardless of how disproportionate them may be. The personal sacrifice to a grater cause is what distinguishes civil disobedience from mindless bedlam. Otherwise these “protesters” aren’t taking a stand for any cause beyond the gratification of their own egos. That’s a sideshow, not a protest.
Netanyahu did not look at this protest and say, “Oh no, they’ve shut down the Golden Gate Bridge, I guess all Jews should just leave Israel so the Palestinians can be free from the river to the sea.”
Netanyahu did not look at this protest at all.
It served ZERO purpose except for allowing entitled lefties who don’t have to work to prevent ordinary people from getting to jobs and medical appointments on time.
There must be consequences or these selfish entitled non-working people will do it again.
This was but one of thousands of protests worldwide and the full weight of Israel’s cratering world image as a pariah state absolutely was and is being moved as a result. Whether this particular protest did anything, protesting genocide is necessary and if you’re somehow pretending otherwise, you won’t notice when it comes for you.
It’s a modern-day holocaust, so sure just avert your eyes, play possum.
The aversion of eyes is from your own self, when you minimize all of the other actual genocides in the world that you’ve ignored. Iran, Sudan, Nigeria, Yemen, Malaysia, India , Thailand, etc. Millions of people are being killed but somehow everyone is focused on Gaza, which has actually increased in population (source: cia.gov) said that Gaza population increased by 2.02% in 2024. 130 births per day in Gaza for the past 2 years, that is not a “genocide” folks. 50,000 babies were born in the first 9 months of 2024 alone, while 72,000 died in war since Oct. 7th, 2023. The genocide claim there is from the UN, which has an overwhelming Muslim majority of 56 voting entities, so they push their issues to the forefront, without ever condemning Hamas’ actions.
These people could afford to hold up everyone in the Bay Area to make themselves feel good about “taking a stand.”
They can afford to pay for it.
Who asked for your sympathy? They protested genocide, you ‘commented’ online about it. Brave stance there!
In the UK protesters were given prison sentences of up to 5 years for blocking the main London orbital road, the M25.
A modest fine is letting them off easy.
UK is a police state. They don’t have freedom of speech to criticize Israel.
Everyone has the right to peacefully protest. No one has the right to blockade a bridge for 4 hours
I don’t think anyone didn’t realize it was against the law.
Then don’t whine about the consequences of your actions
I don’t think any of us were there or they’d have said so, but either way if you learn how to read, you’ll notice it’s lawyers saying the punishment is selective and unjustly targeting anti-Israeli genocide protests in an effort to quash them. That’s their argument. If you learn how to read, you can learn how to evaluate arguments instead of calling everyone “whiners” or being an online troll. But that’s for you to decide whether that’s important, being civil and having a point or not.
Lawyers make stupid arguments all the time. It doesn’t mean they have any basis in reality. Show me the other protests that blocked the bridge for four hours and got off scott free. Oh right there aren’t any.
“Lawyers make stupid arguments all the time.”
You do as well, cheers to that.
Protest is still protest even if you’re upset about it.
Good. I’m tired of these terrorism supporters shutting down transportation in the Bay Area to serve their own selfish fantasies.
You want to do something to help Gaza? Get over there and help. Blocking the Golden Gate Bridge does zero to help ANYONE in the world.
It’s obviously not terror because it didn’t cause fear.
So this is mildannoyanceism?
Calling that “supporting terrorism” is where you go full Trumpite.
I am glad that restitution is being sought; hopefully that will discourage others from unlawfully obstructing traffic in the future.
These protests are just the height of narcissism; the protesters think their political viewpoints are more important than anybody else’s viewpoints or anybody else’s rights.
That they claim to be protesting genocide is irrelevant; Theirs is not the inherently correct view. Supporters of Israel who saw thousands of innocent citizens raped, tortured and murdered by Hamas — an explicitly genocidal group — would disagree with them.
I just wonder what these protesters would say if they were delayed for 4 hours by a pro-Israel protest. How could they object?
Ah yes, a minor traffic inconvenience is a greater concern than US funded genocide, ongoing and in contravention of international law.
Good points, “from a certain point of view.”
Begs the question, how would a pro-Israel protest be anti-Genocide when they’re the ones doing it? Think things through a little better so you make sense.
it’s “clearly something to dissuade people from protesting in the future.”
Ya THINK ?!!!???!!!
“In my mind, it’s retaliatory. She’s discriminating against a group of protesters who are protesting the genocide in Gaza.”
LOL – at discriminating. That’s some real Jackie Chiles jazz right there.
Israel has slaughtered 67,000 Palestinians many children – using mostly American money and weapons. Maybe Netanyahu and his hideous wife should sell some of their stolen luxury goods and pay the fine – that’s just about 1k per slaughtered Palestinian – hey it’s a good deal – right? I mean anybody should understand a good deal it’s BiBi der ganef.
Money, money, money….
Imagine trying to claw back the money taxpayers lost while supplying the bombs and bullets that turned Gaza into a wasteland and killed tens of thousands, predominately women and children. Meanwhile, the Biden and Trump administrations helped make those who supplied those bombs and bullets rich.
Adding insult to injury, Governor Newsom has signed California Assembly Bill 715, effectively criminalizing dissent. One would think he and Trump are reading from the same page.
The World Socialist Web Site describes the bill thus:
“Passed under the fraudulent banner of “antisemitism prevention,” AB 715 embodies a reactionary fusion of state power, corporate censorship and Zionist ideology. It is part of a nationwide effort to equate opposition to the Israeli state with hatred of Jewish people, silencing criticism of the Gaza genocide and US imperialism in the Middle East.”
Source:
https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2025/10/10/cmcz-o10.html
Government seeking compensation for the impacts of speech has a chilling effect and is probably unconstitutional.
With this SCOTUS, who knows?
Blocking traffic is not free speech. You can speak freely without causing an obstruction and disrupting the lives of innocent people.
Protest is protected whether you understand it or not.
Blockading a bridge is not speech.
It’s a protest, a protected form of speech in America.
Where did you say you were from?
It’s toddler brain to rename crime as protest and pretend that you can get away with it.
Israel’s crimes are noted.
You defend them because you were inconvenienced in traffic?
Amazing stuff.
No, there is no such thing as unlimited free speech.
So you cannot shout in a library and many other public and government places.
You can say the same thing withut blocking traffic. See the difference?
Protest is a protected right. Your blathering doesn’t change that.
To all anti protest people in the comments….. The reason you enjoy the freedoms you have today is because of civil disobedience and protest. It’s because people like us fought for your rights while you say on your behind and complained.
Typical self-aggrandizing by delusional children thinking being a royal PITA is somehow a favor to the rest of us. My toddler was not marching on Selma when they last threw a tantrum to protest bedtime.
Real adult-sounding talk there…
I have little sympathy for supporters of Hamas, but they are protected under the 1st amendment. Frankly, I am surprised an SF DA even considered this.
“People were driving to work.”
And OTHER people were being systematically starved, bombed by a US “ally” using us to fund their genocide.
Wake up and smell the napalm, SF. Silence is complicit.
Silence may or may not be complicity, but protesting in support of Hamas — a terrorist organization that explicitly advocates for genocide — certainly is.
On which side of the Golden Gate Bridge were they being starved and bombed — the San Francisco side, or the Marin County side?
Funny joke there, you almost made genocide go away and people stop talking about how Israel is committing war crimes.
Well done comrade.