Pro-Palestinian protesters blocked roads in Illinois, California, New York and the northwest region of the United States, temporarily suspending access to some of the country's busiest airports, the Golden Gate and Brooklyn bridges, and traffic on a major highway on Monday. highway of the west coast of the country.
In Chicago, protesters linked arms and blocked lanes of Interstate 190 leading to O'Hare International Airport around 7 a.m., a protest that was part of a global economic blockade “to free Palestine,” according to Rifqa Falaneh, one of the organizers.
Traffic in the San Francisco Bay Area was backed up for several hours as protesters shut down all vehicular and pedestrian traffic on the Golden Gate Bridge and chained themselves to 55-gallon (200-liter) barrels filled with cement placed along Interstate 880 in Oakland.
Protesters marching toward Brooklyn blocked Manhattan-bound traffic over the Brooklyn Bridge. In Eugene, Oregon, they closed Interstate 5, a major highway in the region, for about 45 minutes.
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Some travelers stuck in traffic got out of their vehicles and walked the last stretch to the airport on the highway, dragging their luggage with them.
One of them was Madeline Hannan, a resident of the Chicago suburbs. He was headed to O'Hare to take a work flight to Florida when her and her husband's car got stuck in traffic for 20 minutes. She got out of the vehicle and “ran and walked quickly” for more than a mile. She said she arrived at her boarding gate on time. Barely.
“It was an inconvenience,” he said in a telephone interview from Florida. “But with everything going on overseas, it’s a minor inconvenience.”
Although individual travelers were affected, operations at the airport appeared almost normal, with delays of less than 15 minutes, according to the Chicago Department of Aviation.
Traffic towards O'Hare resumed around 9 in the morning.
Near Seattle, the Washington State Department of Transportation reported that a demonstration closed the main access road to Seattle-Tacoma International Airport. Social media posts showed people holding a banner and waving Palestinian flags over the highway. State authorities urged the population to opt for the light rail.
About 20 protesters were detained at the Golden Gate Bridge protest and traffic resumed shortly after noon, according to the California Highway Patrol. The agency said its officers were making arrests at two points on the highway, including a place where nearly 300 protesters ignored orders to disperse.
“Attempting to block or close an expressway or state highway to protest is illegal, dangerous, and prevents motorists from safely reaching their destinations,” the agency said in a statement.
Oregon State Police said 52 protesters were arrested for disorderly conduct following the protest on Interstate 5 in Eugene, Oregon, about 110 miles (177 kilometers) south of Portland. Six vehicles were also towed from the scene.
The New York police made numerous arrests. He said there were initially about 150 protesters at the march around 3:50 p.m., but that number grew quickly. The bridge was fully reopened by 5 p.m.
In Chicago, dozens of protesters were arrested, according to Falaneh. Chicago police said Monday that “several people” were detained after a protest in which people blocked traffic, but they did not have a detailed count.
Protesters say they chose the location, in part, because O'Hare is one of the largest airports. Among other things they called for an immediate ceasefire in the war between Israel and Hamas.
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