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Traffic on the Bay Bridge towards San Francisco improved late Saturday afternoon after being stopped for nearly four hours due to a protest.
The protest, reported at around 1:50 p.m., affected westbound lanes, according to the Metropolitan Transportation Commission.
At around 5:30 p.m., authorities said the traffic was slowing down.
Just before 4 p.m. at the end of the protest, a trailer reached the toll, said Mark Andrews, a spokesperson for the California Highway Patrol.
The protest was peaceful, he added.
The protest by the caravan, which supported Indian farmers, began at noon on Saturday in Oakland, with plans to travel to the Indian Consulate General in San Francisco.
Manny Singh, 18, said he left Fresno, where he lives, to join the caravan. Singh said his grandfather, who lives in India, works as a farmer.
Saturday’s protest aimed to show their support for tens of thousands of farmers in New Delhi who have been protesting for at least nine days against three new laws that deregulate Indian agriculture, according to NPR.
Singh said hundreds of people showed up in support on the Bay Bridge – from Tracy, Lathrop, Bakersfield and elsewhere in the state.
“All of California is there right now,” he says.
Similar protests also took place in Washington, DC, New York, Chicago and Michigan on Saturday.
“Without farmers, there is no food,” Naindeep Singh, executive director of the Jakara movement, a grassroots organization, said in a statement. “Without agriculture, there is no livelihood for the millions of people in Punjab who have relied on agriculture as a source of income for generations. These issues are deeply intertwined and we will make our voices heard to ensure that the families in Punjab who are putting their lives at risk to protest in Delhi can do so without facing threats from the Indian government.
Naindeep Singh helped organize the caravan and the rally.
Sarah Ravani is a writer for the San Francisco Chronicle. Email: [email protected]
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