Protesters block Bay Bridge, separate group block I-80 onramp

EMERYVILLE, Calif. - A group of protesters blocked westbound lanes of the Bay Bridge east of Treasure Island heading into the San Francisco late Monday afternoon.

KTVU Skyfox was over the incident shortly before 4 p.m. where a mass of people could be seen linking their cars with chains in order to block traffic.

Multiple California Highway Patrol units responded to the scene. According to CHP,  upon arriving, five vehicles were seen stopped and blocking all lanes. Police said approximately 10 protestors were either chained to the outside of their vehicles and to each other with the use of an inter-locking device.

The protesters had signs that read, "Black Health Matters". 

The protest lasted about half an hour. Police quickly moved in and began making arrests on the bridge.

CHP tweeted in all, that 25 protesters were taken into custody and would be booked into the San Francisco County Jail on the following charges; false imprisonment, public nuisance, unlawful assembly, and obstructing free passage.  

At about 5:30 p.m., CHP officials said the remaining two lanes had reopened, though residual delays persisted from the massive backups caused by the closure.

The Bay Bridge protesters are part of a group called Black Seed, a self-described black, queer liberation collective.

"The big thing is reminding people what Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s legacy is about. It was about direct action. He was a radical," said Mia Birdsong with the Black Seed group.  "We're giving the powerful a taste of what it means to be powerless and perhaps they'll do right by us. We're not about making things comfortable for people. There's a lot of things we experience as black folks on a daily basis. Our well being is disrupted all the time."

"It happened. I don't know if it was easy. But it was coordinated and they were able to do it. Our position is, we really ask if there's a grievance, that this is not the appropriate way to do that," commented CHP Officer Vu Williams.

This is the second year in a row they have used Martin Luther King Jr. Day in part of  a call for 96 Hours of Direct Action, by the Anti-Police Terror Project. 

A separate earlier group of protesters marched for Martin Luther King Jr. Day have blocked an Interstate Highway 80 off-ramp in Emeryville this afternoon, according to the California Highway Patrol.   

The Powell Street off-ramp to Highway 80 is closed because of the protest, CHP officials said at about 3:10 p.m.

Traffic is disrupted in the area.

Protesters posted video on Twitter showing them protesting outside the Home Depot on Hollis Street in Emeryville, where Yuvette Henderson was accused of shoplifting before she was shot and killed by Emeryville police officers last February.