A San Francisco jury has found seven pro-Palestinian protesters guilty on misdemeanor charges connected to a 2024 demonstration that brought traffic on the Golden Gate Bridge to a standstill for four hours.
San Francisco District Attorney Brooke Jenkins announced Thursday that each of the seven defendants was convicted on six misdemeanor counts, which included false imprisonment, obstruction of a thoroughfare, and unlawful assembly. One of the seven was additionally found guilty of refusing to disperse.
The seven individuals convicted are Bhavika Anandpura, River Allen, Rocky Chau, Sara Cantor, Conrad de Jesus, Sarah Ferrell, and Em Tillotson, according to local media reports.
The jury was unable to reach a unanimous decision on the most serious charge — felony conspiracy — which carries a potential sentence of up to 15 years. That charge involves an agreement between two or more individuals to commit a crime, combined with an act taken to carry it out.
All seven defendants are scheduled to be sentenced in August and could face as much as five years in a county jail on the misdemeanor convictions.
Jenkins said her office would weigh its options going forward. “At this time we will evaluate our options and consider next steps,” she stated.
Defense attorneys maintained that the protesters felt a moral obligation to speak out against Israel’s military campaign in Gaza and the United States government’s backing of Israel. They also argued that the demonstrators turned to blocking the bridge only after other approaches — such as writing letters and reaching out to congressional representatives — failed to produce any response.
Prosecutors from Jenkins’ office contended that the four-hour traffic blockade created a genuine safety hazard for drivers caught in the backup.
Attorney Nuha Abusamra, who represented one of the defendants, told local outlet KQED that the outcome on the lesser charges represented a win. “Taking a bridge and blocking traffic for a few hours years ago is the bare minimum that we should be doing as American citizens while our tax dollars continue to fund the mass genocide of Palestinians,” she said.
The 2024 protest was part of a broader wave of demonstrations across the United States calling for an end to Israel’s military operations in Gaza and demanding that universities pull investments from companies with ties to Israel.
Israel’s ongoing assault on Gaza has resulted in the deaths of tens of thousands of people, created a severe hunger crisis, and displaced nearly the entire population of the territory. Rights experts, scholars, and United Nations inquiries have described the situation as a genocide. Israel has characterized its actions as self-defense, citing a Hamas-led attack in October 2023 that killed 1,200 people and resulted in more than 250 individuals being taken hostage.
