April 16, 2024 (EIRNS)—Demonstrators protesting for Palestine and against Israel’s genocide blocked roadways in Illinois, California, New York, Florida, and the Pacific Northwest on April 15, temporarily shutting down travels into some of the nation’s most heavily used airports and bridges. The actions were coordinated by an organization called A-15 Action, which was formed to plan the multi-city protest on tax day, the deadline for Americans to pay federal taxes.
The A15-Action group’s call for a Coordinated Economic Blockade to Free Palestine stated: “We will identify and blockade major choke points in the economy … with the aim of causing the most economic impact.” It added: “There is a sense in the streets in this recent and unprecedented movement for Palestine that escalation has become necessary: there is a need to shift from symbolic actions to those that cause pain to the economy.”
Some of the protests:
Chicago: Protesters shut down traffic on I-190 on the entrance to O’Hare International Airport, which handles 73.9 million passengers a year, and one of the world’s ten busiest airports. Forty protesters were arrested for shutting down the airport for several hours. Protesters said that they were denouncing Boeing, which manufactures weapons for the Iisrael Defense Forces.
San Francisco: Protesters shut down both lanes of the Golden Gate Bridge for many hours. One protester shouted, “There’s a genocide going on across the world, and people have to be informed about it, whether it’s going to work or on social media.” In Oakland, protesters blocked a section of the I-880 highway and also impeded the entrance to the Port of Oakland .
New York: Fox News reported, “Hundreds of pro-Palestinian protesters stormed the Brooklyn Bridge from Manhattan … snarling traffic.” The bridge was closed for two hours.
Miami and Tampa, Florida: The Fox News channel reported that “protesters flooded downtown Miami and downtown Tampa, calling for a ceasefire in the ongoing war in Gaza.”
Seattle, Washington: The Washington State Department of Transportation said a demonstration closed the main road to the Seattle-Tacoma International Airport.
San Antonio, Texas: Protesters blocked the entranceway to Valero Energy for hours.
Other protests internationally included in Melbourne, in which 200 demonstrators blocked roads in the city.
Prominent themes throughout were for a ceasefire and to stop arms shipments to Israel.
