A Protest Organization Coup

Protesters with the Black Lives Matter movement blocked traffic on the westbound span of the Bay Bridge that connects Oakland and San Francisco as part of a long weekend of protests aimed at reclaiming Martin Luther King Jr’s legacy of radicalism.

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Shortly after 3.30pm, a caravan of cars slowed to a stop on the five-lane bridge. Passengers in the first line of cars passed chains through their windows and locked themselves to both sides of the bridge, bringing all westbound traffic to a stop.

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Dozens of protesters streamed out of cars and onto the roadway, chanting, singing, and erecting a banner reading “Black health matters”.

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Officers from the California Highway Patrol arrived soon after the blockade was in place. Wearing riot gear and carrying less-lethal weapons, the officers ordered onlookers back into their cars. About 4.15pm, the officers began cutting chains and arresting [24] protesters.

  Guardian

Now, that was clever.

The bridge shutdown caps off four days of protest in the Bay area, where the Black Lives Matter movement has been galvanized by the fatal shooting of Mario Woods by San Francisco police officers on 2 December 2015.

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Woods was allegedly armed with a kitchen knife when he was surrounded by at least 10 police officers who say he matched the description of a suspect in an earlier stabbing in the neighborhood. Five officers opened fire on Woods, killing him.

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Shortly after the shooting, San Francisco police chief Greg Suhr told a community meeting that Woods had extended his knife toward police officers, an apparent justification of the shooting. But additional video of the shooting obtained by John Burris, the civil rights lawyer representing Woods’ family in a federal civil rights lawsuit, appears to show that Woods’ arms were at his sides when officers opened fire.

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San Francisco is one of the only cities in the country where police are not allowed to carry electric stun guns, in large part due to widespread community opposition. The police commission, which sets policy for the department, has initiated a review of San Francisco police department’s use-of-force policies.

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.