Seven people who blocked the Golden Gate Bridge for four hours during a pro-Palestine protest in April 2024 were each found guilty of a string of misdemeanors on Thursday, but the jury failed to reach a verdict for misdemeanor trespass and felony conspiracy, the most serious charge.

Protest and Trial

The protesters drove onto the Golden Gate Bridge from Marin County, stopped their cars in a row, and extended their arms through pipes across all four lanes, physically blocking southbound traffic coming into the city for four hours. One defendant, Sarah Cantor, acted as “police liaison” that day, and faced an additional misdemeanor charge of refusal to disperse at a riot.

The district attorney’s office initially filed felony charges against eight protesters, but a judge dismissed one of those cases. Eighteen other protesters were charged with misdemeanors; their cases were diverted or dismissed. The jury assigned to the trial of the remaining seven protesters began deliberating on Friday, June 5.

The verdicts could mean a maximum of about five years in prison for each, public defender Anthony Gedeon indicated at a press conference Thursday. Sentencing is scheduled for August. The defense team said it will appeal the guilty verdicts.

Reaction and Next Steps

Supporters of the defendants had packed the courtroom. When Judge Teresa Caffese began to thank the jury for its work, those in the audience began to cough in a seeming protest to the judge’s words. When Caffese ordered the courtroom cleared, those coughs turned to shouts directed at the jury.

Many cried “shame” on their way out. Others moaned in tears. Outside the courtroom, as the judge made her final remarks to the jury, protest chants filled the hall, including “Viva viva Palestina.”

Original reporting: Mission Local — read the source article.