Officers won't let protesters cross bridge Traffic snarled as 10 CodePink members are arrested

www.sfgate.com ^ | 01/02/07 | Sabin Russell

[Ellesu]

Traffic snarled as 10 CodePink members are arrested during vigil for slain GIs -- all bikes and pedestrians barred for hours

Police took 10 war protesters into custody Monday at the Golden Gate Bridge after a three-hour standoff that backed up New Year's Day traffic and frayed tempers of tourists and bicyclists hoping for a jaunt across the span.

The confrontation began at noon when about a dozen members of the women's peace organization CodePink prepared to walk across the bridge as a vigil to remember the 3,000 U.S. soldiers killed in Iraq.

Officers from the California Highway Patrol, the Golden Gate Bridge District and the San Francisco Police Department barred their way and also refused to let tourists onto the span.

The protesters eventually decided to cross a police line and were taken into custody. Bicyclists began crossing the west side of bridge again by 3 p.m., but foot traffic on the east side of the bridge remained off limits after the protesters dispersed.

Among those detained was CodePink co-founder and prominent San Francisco peace activist Medea Benjamin.

[daybreakcoming]

Quick!! Someone get a burka! This face goes beyond coyote-ugly.

[brushcop]

"...It dawned on me during an intolerable company Christmas party that there's really no difference between protesters and the obnoxious office drunk..."

Randog, in that statement there has to be a very interesting experience that you must share with all of us.

[Goldie Lurks]

It appears that cameraman Davis was in the police officer's *space*....Possibly obstructing a police officer that is enforcing the law, heh?