Police in Fremont have deployed pepper balls at protesters near the Tesla Factory in Fremont, according to California Highway Patrol. 

A group of people protesting the ongoing invasion of Gaza had planned to gather at the Fremont Warm Springs BART station on Monday at 5:30 p.m. to protest what they call the corporate support for the actions against Palestinians in Gaza. 

CHP said it is standing by off Interstate Highway 880 in Fremont due to the active protest. Pepper balls have been deployed by Fremont Police to control the crowd, CHP said. 

At 7:30 p.m., Fremont Police released a traffic advisory for the area of Mission Boulevard/state Highway 262 at I-880 and Industrial Parkway, Fremont and Kato roads. 

People are asked to avoid the area. 

Earlier actions by the same groups blocked two of the Bay Area’s major roadways for several hours starting with the morning commute. While the CHP didn’t say how many were arrested in Oakland, a spokesperson said 28 people were arrested on the Golden Gate Bridge. 

The traffic nightmare closed both directions of U.S. Highway 101 in both directions on both the San Francisco and Marin County sides and, in Oakland, both directions of I-880 near downtown, leaving traffic backed up for miles.

Katy St. Clair got her start in journalism by working in the classifieds department at the East Bay Express during the height of alt weeklies, then sweet talked her way into becoming staff writer, submissions editor, and music editor. She has been a columnist in the East Bay Express, SF Weekly, and the San Francisco Examiner. Starting in 2015, she begrudgingly scaled the inverted pyramid at dailies such as the Vallejo Times-Herald, The Vacaville Reporter, and the Daily Republic. She has her own independent news site and blog that covers the delightfully dysfunctional town of Vallejo, California, where she also collaborates with the investigative team at Open Vallejo. A passionate advocate for people with developmental disabilities, she serves on both the Board of the Arc of Solano and the Arc of California. She lives in Vallejo.