Just before Thanksgiving. Professor Jacobson reported that approximately 80 anti-Israel protesters were arrested and cars towed away after they blocked all westbound lanes of the Bay Bridge.
The protest started around 7:45 a.m. and no cars were able to get into San Francisco for hours. Westbound lanes of the bridge could be seen empty as traffic backed up and all lanes didn’t reopen until just before noon.Images show cars blocking the lanes on the eastern span of the bridge as the protesters call for a cease-fire in the Middle East.Protesters were lying down with white sheets over their bodies that said “Stop the genocide.”
Now comes news that the San Francisco District Attorney will charge all arrested protesters.
San Francisco District Attorney Brooke Jenkins said her office will charge all of the protestors who were arrested after halting traffic on the Bay Bridge during the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation conference in November.In total, 80 protestors calling for a cease-fire in the Gaza Strip will face charges of false imprisonment, refusing to comply with a peace officer, unlawful public assembly, refusing to disperse and obstruction of street, sidewalk or other place open to public, the San Francisco District Attorney’s Office announced Friday.”While we must protect avenues for free speech, the exercise of free speech can not compromise public safety,” Jenkins said in a press release…….According to officials, protestors who were cited and released are expected to appear for their arraignments anytime between Monday and Friday next week.
The demonstrators will be arraigned on misdemeanor charges.
“The demonstration on the Bay Bridge that snarled traffic for hours had a tremendous impact on those who were stuck on the bridge and required tremendous public resources to resolve,” said Jenkins.On Nov. 16, 80 protesters were arrested on the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge and 29 vehicles were towed after demonstrators blocked all lanes on the upper deck, with some drivers tossing their keys into the bay. One person was booked into county jail but the others were cited and released, the San Francisco’s Emergency Operations Center said in an email.Those 80 protesters are being charged with five misdemeanors which include:False imprisonment (PC 236)Refusing to comply with a peace officer (VC 2800(a))Unlawful public assembly (PC 407)Refusing to disperse (PC 409)Aggressive panhandling (PC 647(c)
Looking into this, I have to say that DA Brooke Jenkins is an intriguing replacement for the recalled Soros-backed DA Chesa Boudin. Jenkins was a former employee of Boudin who left the office and became a vocal proponent and surrogate of the recall campaign.
For example, Jenkins upset progressive sensibilities when she said homeless people should be made to feel uncomfortable.
San Francisco District Attorney Brooke Jenkins is taking heat for recent controversial comments that homeless people “have to be made to be uncomfortable,” a reference to the idea that regularly sweeping encampments encourages unhoused people to accept offers of shelter.During a Dec. 4 public forum, dubbed “Take Action: San Francisco,” Jenkins was asked by KGO-TV reporter and former Chronicle columnist Phil Matier if anything “legal” could be done about thousands of unsheltered San Franciscans declining shelter and services.Jenkins initially replied that “the recourse is obviously outside the criminal justice system.”
She has also raised the city’s conviction rate for crime for the first time in eight years.
San Francisco District Attorney Brooke Jenkins, appointed to the top prosecutor role last year, has, in her first 15 months, raised the city’s conviction rate for the first time in eight years, according to data from her office.Conviction rates rose from 37 percent of cases in 2022 to almost 43 percent in 2023. It is the first time since 2016 that those rates have risen.The conviction rate was largely flat between 2011 and 2016, when it began a steady decline until this year.The change in direction fulfills a campaign promise: Under Jenkins, people accused of crimes are being pushed into the justice system more often, and a smaller proportion are being diverted to non-carceral programs. The DA ran on a platform of tough accountability for transgressions, promising to crack down on petty to violent crimes.
Personally, I wish Jenkins a lot of success in her new role. Thia has been the most positive report I have put together on San Francisco since I began writing for Legal Insurrection over ten years ago.
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