Last month a group of protesters organized by the Arab Resource and Organizing Center (AROC) shut down the Bay Bridge connecting San Francisco and Oakland and staged a protest. People involved got out of their cars and threw their keys in the bay before staging a die in on the bridge to demand a ceasefire in Gaza.

The Bay Bridge is SHUT DOWN

Biden will not get away with genocide, Biden will not get away with staying in San Francisco without EVERYONE knowing he is supporting the slaughter in Gaza

No more genocide, ceasefire NOW pic.twitter.com/iQWWevwclA

— Ariel Koren (@ariel_koko) November 16, 2023

Protesters were ordered to clear the bridge by police and refused. Eventually about 80 people were arrested and at least 15 cars had to be towed. A total of 250 police officers were involved in restoring order to the bridge. Aside from tying up traffic for hours, the protest also had an impact on transplant surgeries:

UCSF tells ABC7 News that three couriers trying to deliver organs for transplants were also caught in the delays. At least one surgery was canceled.

“We expect there will be more problems with patients in the afternoon who are trying to arrive now for surgery,” explains Garrett Roll, Associate Professor of Transplant Surgery at UCSF.

So last Friday, DA Brooke Jenkins announced all of the people arrested for blocking the bridge would face charges.

In total, 80 protesters calling for a cease-fire in the Gaza Strip will face charges of false imprisonment, refusing to comply with a peace officer, unlawful public assembly, refusing to disperse and obstruction of street, sidewalk or other place open to public, the San Francisco District Attorney’s Office announced Friday.

“While we must protect avenues for free speech, the exercise of free speech can not compromise public safety,” Jenkins said in a press release. “The demonstration on the Bay Bridge that snarled traffic for hours had a tremendous impact on those who were stuck on the bridge for hours and required tremendous public resources to resolve.”

The first group of protesters headed to court today and a group of their comrades showed up outside to protest and demand the charges be dropped.

Standing on the front steps of the San Francisco Hall of Justice, the group of about 200 people also called on District Attorney Brooke Jenkins to drop all charges in connection with the November protest, in which demonstrators blocked access to San Francisco on the bridge for several hours…

Seventeen of the defendants appeared before a judge but did not enter pleas because they want time to consult with their attorneys, said attorney Emily Rose Johns, who represented them for the purpose of their first court appearance. The defendants are each facing five misdemeanors, Johns said, with dozens more protesters expected to be arraigned throughout the week.

Johns, who previously represented people arrested at Black Lives Matter demonstrations in the Bay Area, characterized the charges as “inflammatory” and said they are unusual following non-violent protests.

Thank goodness DA Chesa Boudin is no longer in office. He would have dismissed the charges before any of these people reached a courthouse. One of the arrested protesters was outside leading the call for the charges to be dropped.

Maisa Morrar, one of the protesters who is facing charges, urged the crowd gathered outside the courthouse to continue showing up to support the protesters at their hearings.

“Fill the room,” Morrar said. “It looks like the judge doesn’t really want to let us in, but we’re gonna show up anyway to let her know because we have the right to be in a public court—the right to see what’s going on.”

“This is unfortunately, a long battle, but we know that we have your support,” she added. “We support each other, and we’re going to continue to show up for Palestine.”

The AROC account on X indicates the group is once again organizing all of this.

Hundreds, including faith and labor leaders, showed up this morning to demand that DA Jenkins #dropthecharges. The #BayBridge78 are part of a long lineage of people using civil disobedience to bend the arc of history towards justice. #DropTheCharges NOW + stand against genocide! pic.twitter.com/UaVWdC7TfP

— AROC #FreePalestine (@AROCBayArea) December 18, 2023

I’d really never heard of this group before a few weeks ago. Apparently they share office space in San Francisco with the communist party.

located in the SF Communist Party HQ at 522 Valencia. Which is also a Socialist Party HQ. We’re talking dinosaurs gone wild here — full Code Pink-level cuckoo. They’re so crazy, the National Communist Party in NYC sued THEM. But @sfgov being what it is, we fund them… 2/3 pic.twitter.com/S5ccG4YDnC

— MissionLoco (@MissionLoco) December 18, 2023

Sure enough, the Center for Political Education shares the same address. That group is holding Marxism 101 Classes. Their website describes how the address became home to all of these leftist organizations.

The CPE is housed at 522 Valencia St in San Francisco. The building became a movement resource in the early 1970s, commonly associated with the Communist Party USA. The CPUSA published the national newspaper People’s World out of 522 Valencia. In 1994, a broad spectrum of left activists, most of whom were no longer in the CPUSA, took on the responsibility for the building and the associated assets which has been a home for progressive left organizations since. They formed the Kendra Alexander Foundation, in honor of Kendra Alexander, long-time organizer and agitator who passed away in May 1993, to oversee this invaluable movement resource.

So not everyone headquarter there is a Marxist but some of them are. In any case, here’s video of the protest this morning.

As the first of about 80 people arrested for blockading the Bay Bridge prepared to head to court Monday, their supporters vowed to “pack the courts” in another show of support for a cease fire in Gaza.

Read more: https://t.co/oB2Hxur2JH

📹: @BronteWittpenn pic.twitter.com/81r2zuf5fR

— San Francisco Chronicle (@sfchronicle) December 18, 2023