Protesters who shut down freeways, airports and bridges need to go to jail
On Friday I drove my daughter, her husband and their infant child to Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport.
Traffic was heavy and my daughter was nervous because she wasn’t sure how her newborn would do on a cross-country flight to visit relatives in Virginia. She was also feeling a bit off physically.
The stress level was high.
I dropped them at the airport, said our goodbyes and drove home. Several hours later we got a text that they had landed safely — the baby had fussed a bit, but passengers around them were kind.
We were all relieved.
Later, I watched the news about another airport — Chicago’s O’Hare International. Political protesters had brought traffic to a standstill on a freeway leading to the airport on Saturday.
Who tries to take motorists hostage?
I began to imagine what would have happened the day before if my kid also had to deal with protest gridlock — possibly missing her plane.
What kind of a scoundrel tries to impose their politics on people by holding them prisoner and amping up their stress on one of the most stressful travel days of the year?
These were leftist protests, but this wasn’t liberalism, nor was this civil disobedience. There’s nothing civil about kidnapping people in their own cars for release upon whatever appointed time you decree.
This is authoritarianism that demands Americans bow to your politics and your will.
If these protesters ever got their hands on real power, they would use it to control the lives of others.
So, they must be stopped.
Chicago protesters want Israel to cease fire
The protesters in Chicago were a group called the US Palestinian Community Network, and they formed a caravan of about 100 cars that drove first to some Chicago politicians’ homes before moving on to I-190 in Chicago and bringing traffic to a halt.
Both sides of the freeway were temporarily shut down, reported Yahoo News.
The protesters were demanding an Israeli ceasefire in its war with Hamas, accusing the Israelis of committing genocide against the Palestinian people.
“Genocide” is a word chosen to specifically slander the Jewish state, in that on Oct. 7 the Jewish people endured the worst single day of violence against them since the Holocaust.
Palestinian Hamas attacked and killed 1,200 mostly Israeli civilians.
ASU protesters: Have a poisonous ideology about Israel
Like any other state so attacked, Israel claimed its right to defend itself against terrorists who strike then scamper away and, in the most cowardly way, embed themselves in their own civilian population — hoping the Israelis will kill Palestinian women and children in their counterattack.
This is meant to provoke global condemnation of Israel.
The Israelis have no choice but to defend themselves against a terror army.
So they’ve gotten hard-headed with the Palestinians, knowing that the only way to protect their own people is to destroy Hamas — the group that controls Gaza and is designated a terrorist organization by much of the civilized world.
A similar protest locked up San Francisco
In America, we will now need to get hard-headed with protesters who support and embolden Hamas. (The Anti-Defamation League accuses the US Palestinian Community Network of being cheer leaders for the terror organization.)
In November, similar protesters shut down San Francisco’s heavily traveled Bay Bridge for four hours.
Caught in the nightmare traffic jam were three transplant organs in transit to and from University of California San Francisco medical facilities.
UCSF transplant surgeon said the protest delayed vital surgeries. Such delays could have caused complications for patients, Dr. Garrett Roll said.
Fortunately, San Francisco has a new district attorney who is not putting up with Bay Bridge shutdowns.
Brooke Jenkins, who was appointed and later elected the San Francisco district attorney after the recall of soft-on-crime reformer Chesa Boudin, announced that some 80 people will be charged with unlawful public assembly.
We must fully enforce our laws again
“While we must protect avenues for free speech, the exercise of free speech cannot compromise public safety,” Jenkins wrote in a statement. “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.”
On Dec. 20, Jenkins told CNN that law enforcement is back in fashion. San Francisco has been plagued by waves of shoplifting and carjacking. No more will police and prosecutors mollycoddle criminals.
“We are back to fully enforcing our laws,” she later tweeted. “All crime is illegal in San Francisco again. I am committed to continuing this work to ensure that crime continues to go down + most importantly that our residents & visitors feel safe.”
An attorney representing the Bay Bridge protestors has whined about the charges and insists this was an act of civil disobedience.
It was not.
This was an act against civilized society — that denies people their freedom of movement with no concern for the hardships it creates.
Some of those people held captive by freeway protests may be facing desperate moments in their lives, such as emergency transport to hospitals or awaiting a transplant organ.
To care nothing of them is the height of selfishness.
It’s a thug tactic.
And it won't win supporters. It will only turn people into your sworn enemies for life.
Phil Boas is an editorial columnist with The Arizona Republic. Email him at phil.boas@arizonarepublic.com.
This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Chicago protesters who shut down freeway should be arrested
