A protest march against the Israeli invasion of Gaza and in support of the Palestinian people proceeded up an on-ramp to a major freeway interchange in San Francisco on Saturday.
The march began at the foot of Market Street around 1 p.m. Saturday, and it was one of multiple large protests that took place in major cities including New York, Los Angeles and London today.
#FreePalestine protest in San Francisco today 🇵🇸 pic.twitter.com/C1DorNcnGb
— nicotina ✨ (@principenic) October 28, 2023
Palestine protest on the freeway in San Francisco. pic.twitter.com/JlAglHFdII
— tree (@treekisser) October 28, 2023
By 4:30 p.m., marchers had climbed onto the freeway near the 80/101 interchange, and were occupying the northbound lanes heading toward the Bay Bridge. SF's Department of Emergency Management sent out an alert at 4:45 for motorists to avoid the area, and anyone trying to get to the East Bay for Halloween festivities should expect some delays.
The goal may be to block the Bay Bridge altogether.
The New York City protest took over the Brooklyn Bridge this evening.
“Israel bombs, US pays, how many kids did you killed today?”
— Luigi W Morris (@LuigiWMorris) October 28, 2023
Thousands took over the Brooklyn Bridge in NYC i solidarity with Gaza.
End the siege on Gaza!
End the air strikes and every military intervention!
#freepalestine🇵🇸 pic.twitter.com/vvSjo60zqf
The protests come as Israel launched its ground offensive in Gaza, where the Hamas-controlled health ministry published a list of names of people killed since October 6, reporting that 7,028 Palestinians have been killed. The list, an effort to bolster the credibility of the health ministry's death toll reports, lists 6,747 names with their age, sex, and identity card numbers.
Israel also reported a rocket attack in Tel Aviv today, and said that four people had been injured, when a rocket struck an apartment building. Many rockets were intercepted by Israel's "Iron Dome."