DC bridge shuts down after pro-abortion rights activist scales arch

A bridge in Washington, D.C., has been shut down after a man climbed the bridge’s arch to protest the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade. 

The District Department of Transportation said in a release on Friday that the Frederick Douglass Memorial Bridge shut down for “safety concerns involved with protest activity” and will remain closed until further notice. The release states traffic enforcement officers are present to help direct traffic and motorists should use extra caution and expect moderate delays. 

The man, Guido Reichstadter, has posted multiple videos of himself from the top of the bridge, calling for people to go into the streets nonviolently to “shut down the government” until abortion rights are protected. 

Demonstrators rushed to the Supreme Court shortly after it issued its ruling to overturn Roe v. Wade, which guaranteed a federal right to abortion, and Planned Parenthood v. Casey, which upheld the right. The demonstrations are made up of both anti-abortion and pro-abortion rights demonstrators. 

Reichstadter said he is calling for “mass nonviolent civil resistance,” which he said is how people throughout the world protect their rights when “they’re under attack by unelected, unaccountable authoritarian governments.” 

“I’m a father — I got a 12-year-old daughter,” he said. “I’m willing to do anything it takes to fight for her rights.” 

Reichstadter also placed a green flag on the bridge, with the color representing abortion rights. 

“I’m at the top of the Frederick Douglass bridge in Washington DC right now & want to know why YOU aren’t in the streets nonviolently shutting down the gov day after day after day till Congress protects abortion rights? Rise Up my Friends!” Reichstadter posted on Twitter.