Protesters disrupt access to Chicago’s O’Hare Airport in anti-Israel demonstration

Dozens of anti-Israel protesters in Chicago on Monday morning shut down road access to the O’Hare International Airport for nearly an hour by blocking traffic on Interstate 190.

The protesters, who displayed “Free Palestine” and “Stop Genocide” signs, stood and later sat side by side on lanes leading to the Chicago airport, causing a traffic jam and forcing some travelers to walk with their luggage to the airport.

The blockade started at around 8:30 a.m. and lasted for about 45 minutes, even though videos posted by travelers and protesters showed multiple police vehicles were at the scene.

“On this Tax Day, when millions are paying taxes which fund the ongoing U.S and Israeli bombardment of Gaza, protestors seek to take dramatic action,” Chicago Dissenters, one of the protesting groups, wrote in an Instagram post.

“O’Hare International Airport is one of the largest in the country, and there will be NO business as usual while Palestinians suffer at the hands of American funded bombing by Israel,” the group added.

Similar protests occurred Monday morning in other cities, including San Francisco, where anti-Israel protesters held up southbound traffic on the Golden Gate Bridge, and Oakland, Calif., where protesters blocked all lanes on Interstate 880. Dozens of protesters also stopped traffic in Philadelphia’s Center City.

Activists have called Monday’s coordinated series of protests “an economic blockade for a free Palestine.”