Many wondered — especially those stuck in traffic! — why it took hours to remove the handful of protesters who created a barricade across the northbound lanes of I-880 Monday morning. Well, they did something fairly clever with barrels, which is a variation on the "sleeping dragon" technique.

While the "sleeping dragon" technique is commonly employed by protesters to create a barricade — it typically involves handcuffs underneath PVC pipe, so that law enforcement can't simply use bolt cutters to separate protesters — there was a more intense version used to create Monday's obstruction on I-880, which began around 6:30 am.

Protesters who wanted to call attention, on Tax Day, to the US tax dollars going to fund the killing of civilians in Gaza, chained themselves together not with handcuffs, but with barrels partially filled with concrete. The barrels had PVC pipe leading into them on either side, and protesters were gripping rebar drilled through the pipe, inside the barrel, which had been buried by concreete — and therefore wasn't easily accessible from the top.

"We received numerous calls today asking why we didn’t just arrest protesters as soon as we arrived," CHP Golden Gate writes on X. "The photos below along with video on our other social media channels show what officers had to work through before making arrests."

The Golden Gate Bridge protesters did something different: They used their vehicles to blockade the four lanes leading into San Francisco, and then locked hands using the typical "sleeping dragon" method, with handcuffs under PVC pipe, their arms linking between the cars.

The Golden Gate Bridge protest took around four hours to clear, with CHP opening all lanes of the bridge just before noon on Monday.

An initial reopening of lanes on I-880 took place within about four hours, at 10 am, but all the northbound lanes of the freeway did not reopen Monday until 1:15 pm.

"[These were the] Tactics utilized by unlawful protesters this morning on I-880 and the Golden Gate Bridge," CHP tweeted. "This is unlawful and will not be tolerated. Arrests were made and the CHP is recommending charges. Thank you to our law enforcement partners for their assistance."

Seven individuals were arrested in the 880 protest, and a total of 38 individuals were arrested for unlawful assembly on Monday, in addition to other potential charges.

Other coordinated A15 (for April 15) protests took place across the country, including on the highway leading to Chicago's O'Hare Airport, on roads in Philadelphia, and on the Brooklyn Bridge.

"In each city, we will identify and blockade major choke points in the economy, focusing on points of production and circulation with the aim of causing the most economic impact," A15 organizers said prior to the protest.

The group called for a "multi-city blockade... in solidarity with Palestine," and one protester told the Chronicle, "We know that money is really what speaks to [elected leaders]."

Below is video from the CHP showing one protester's hand gripping a piece of rebar inside of one of the steel drums. The protester can be heard screaming "Ow! Ow!" as officers tell him to let go of the rebar, once they have extricated from the concrete.

Previously: Protests Block Golden Gate Bridge, All Northbound Lanes of 880 In Oakland