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Golden Gate Bridge protesters claim DA is biased, anti-Palestine
Attorneys for the eight people facing felonies entered not guilty pleas, and plan to argue District Attorney Brooke Jenkins was biased when filing the charges.
SAN FRANCISCO - The 26 people who were arrested for protesting the war in Gaza on the Golden Gate Bridge and shutting it down for hours on April 15 have been arraigned.
About 100 people gathered Monday morning at the San Francisco Hall of Justice to show support for them.
"There are a lot of people that will show up here and show their support, and agree that these people have a constitutional right to express their opinion," said Mimi Klausner.
Eight of the people arrested are facing felony charges, while 18 are facing misdemeanors. They're being charged with conspiracy, 38 counts of false imprisonment and five other charges related to obstructing the road and refusing to disperse.
Supporters chanted outside and packed the courtrooms. They want to see the charges dropped for the group they're calling "GG 26."
Attorneys for the eight people facing felonies entered not guilty pleas, and plan to argue District Attorney Brooke Jenkins was biased when filing the charges. They want her to recuse herself and are requesting information about a meeting she apparently had with Israeli consulate leaders and any gifts she might have received. They made similar allegations in April.
Attorney Elizabeth Camacho, who is defending one of the protesters, said the group will be filing a Racial Justice Act motion "for filing charges and attempting to attain a conviction based on bias and prejudice, based on ethnicity and political views."
Camacho said the protesters' actions were protected under the First Amendment.
KTVU reached out to District Attorney Brooke Jenkins' office for comment, but did not immediately hear back.
However, in April, Jenkins addressed this very issue, saying that her prosecution of defendants who tied up traffic is not political.
"The charging decision here was made after an extensive investigation by the California Highway Patrol and based solely on the facts from that investigation and the laws that currently exist," the DA's team said in a statement.
Her office also said that her meetings with Israeli consulate staff "does not create a real or apparent conflict of interest," the statement said.
"DA Jenkins, like other elected and public officials, and previous elected DAs, has met periodically, on request with the consular staff of several nations including El Salvador, Estonia, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Mexico, the Philippines, Switzerland, and the SF Consular Corps," the statement read. "Meetings involve discussions around safety of consulates, consulate staff, and their citizen populations."