Sleeping dragon technique revealed: Bay Area protesters try to block arrests
OAKLAND, Calif. - The California Highway Patrol released video of how they worked to remove protesters from blocking highways and bridges on Monday – several of the protesters stuck their hands into pipes, secured by concrete in barrel drums to stymy officers from removing them.
The video shows a man's hand pushed through a pipe and held down with concrete inside a 55-gallon drum. An officer is seen unscrewing a screw to try to pull out the man's hand. The officer yells "Let go! Let go of the bar!" several times and the man is heard screaming "Ow, ow, ow! The rebar is cutting me. Stop! Stop!"
Eventually, the man was released from the barrel and taken into custody.
This is a form of the "sleeping dragon" maneuver used by protesters to hinder their removal from a site. The traditional sleeping dragon is when a series of protesters handcuff themselves together through PVC pipe, which prevents police from simply using bolt cutters to break the handcuffs.
The man was one of nearly 40 pro-Palestinian protesters on I-880 and the Golden Gate Bridge who were arrested by CHP officers on Monday, after they blocked traffic for hours during the morning commute.
On the Golden Gate Bridge, protesters used their cars, with chains concealed with pipes, to connect themselves to each other. It took more than four hours to clear and 26 people were arrested there.
Then on southbound 880 there were about 300 protesters and five of them were arrested after taking five hours to clear all the lanes. Another protest on northbound 880, where protesters were attached to the barrel drums, took seven hours to clear.
On Monday evening, there was also a protest at the Fremont Tesla plant, where officers deployed pepper balls on the crowd. No one was arrested at this protest, Fremont police said.
The California Highway Patrol released all the various charges they will be recommending to prosecutors, including unlawful assembly, refusal to comply with a lawful order, resisting, false imprisonment and unlawful to stop on a bridge.
