If you were upset about tensions between community members and police officers across racial lines, what would be the first avenue to address these issues that came to mind? Obviously you would unload a bunch of heavy barrels, chain yourself to them and block traffic on the interstate.

Protesters who said they were trying to call attention to racial oppression blocked traffic on Interstate 93 north and south of Boston Thursday morning. The actions surprised police, snarled the commute for thousands, and forced the diversion of an ambulance rushing a car crash victim to a Boston hospital, State Police said.

The protests on the major highway artery into the city were reported at 7:40 a.m. on I-93 South at Mystic Avenue in Medford and at 7:30 a.m. at I-93 North at East Milton Square, Colonel Timothy Alben, head of the State Police, said at a news conference.

The protesters in Medford were reportedly removed by shortly after 8 a.m., State Police said, but the protesters in Milton, who had attached themselves to heavy barrels, weren’t removed until about 9:45 a.m.

The Milton protesters didn’t belong to any particular organized group, but were united in their belief that race relations need to be improved, said protest spokeswoman Shannon Leary.

You simply must see the one minute video of this “protest spokeswoman” explaining why this is the perfect way to make your opinions known. (Sadly it’s not available for embed.) I was going to attempt a transcript of it for you here, but my fingers refused to type those words in that particular order. She is reminiscent of the now infamous beauty pageant contestant who tried to explain the need for more education because most people couldn’t find Iraq on a map. The video of the interview with the protester is here.

As if just shutting down the interstate for no discernible reason wasn’t bad enough, they had to pick a morning when there was a serious automobile accident and an ambulance trying to get a victim to a level 1 trauma unit nearby. The State Police took to their Twitter account in frustration with the insanity of it all.

Ambulance had to be diverted to a smaller hospital in SE Mass rather than level 1 Boston trauma hospital. Victim had been in Easton crash.

— Mass State Police (@MassStatePolice) January 15, 2015

Numerous other ambulances had to be on-scene while we cut protesters out of restraints. Meaning they were not available if needed elsewhere

— Mass State Police (@MassStatePolice) January 15, 2015

I suppose if I had to find something positive to say about it, this is at least marginally better than burning the city down. But the criminal stupidity of these idiots is just staggering. (And before you begin wagging your race cards at me, the idiots in question who showed up in the news coverage were all white, okay?) Shutting down the interstate is not free speech. It’s criminal activity. Period.

We’ve heard all sort of complaints about how the United States incarcerates far too many people. In the case of Boston, it looks like we’re not incarcerating nearly enough.