Demonstrators Block San Francisco Bay Bridge In MLK Day Protest

Protesters angered by police violence chained themselves together.
Motorists exit their vehicles as protesters block traffic on the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge on Monday, Jan. 18, 2016, in San Francisco. A group of protesters from the group Black Lives Matter caused the shutdown of one side of the bridge in a police-brutality protest tied to the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. holiday.
Motorists exit their vehicles as protesters block traffic on the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge on Monday, Jan. 18, 2016, in San Francisco. A group of protesters from the group Black Lives Matter caused the shutdown of one side of the bridge in a police-brutality protest tied to the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. holiday.
Noah Berger/AP

Protesters linked with the Black Lives Matter movement chained themselves together on the busy San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge on Monday, blocking rush-hour traffic bound for San Francisco.

The Martin Luther King Jr. Day action was to protest police shootings, such as the December San Francisco police killing of Mario Woods, 26, who police said had threatened officers with a knife. Cellphone video appears to show Woods made no sudden movements toward cops.

Bridge traffic was stopped for about 30 minutes before California Highway Patrol officers partially reopened the five westbound lanes around 4:30 pm. Protesters hopped out of five cars, wrapped chains around their waists and connected themselves to vehicles. Traffic was backed up for miles.

Social media posts showed California Highway Patrol officers taking people into custody. The police arrested 25 people, according to ABC News.

More than 1,000 demonstrators took to Bay Area streets on Monday, starting with a rally near city hall in Oakland, across the bridge from San Francisco. They fanned out across the region to sites that included a mall in nearby Emeryville, where a police last year killed a suspected shoplifter.

Black Seed and the Black Queer Liberation Council claimed responsibility for blocking the bridge. It was part of a larger weekend of protests organized by another group, the Anti Police Terror Project. In addition to criticizing shootings by police, the groups called for investments in affordable housing and the resignation of Oakland Mayor LIbby Schaaf and the firing of San Francisco Police Chief Greg Suhr.

Traffic on the bridge remained heavy, even after it was reopened.

CORRECTION: This story has been revised to reflect newer information about the number of people arrested and to correct statements about the groups involved in organizing the protests.

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