Anti-War Protests Sweep Bay Area

The weekend's demonstrations were a direct response to "Operation Epic Fury," a large-scale joint U.S.-Israeli military operation that began late Friday. The strikes targeted over 2,000 sites across Iran, with Israeli forces focusing on leadership targets and the U.S. targeting military and ballistic missile locations. The operation has reportedly involved hundreds of aerial sorties, including the deployment of B-2 stealth bombers armed with 2,000-pound bombs. Iranian state media confirmed the death of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in the attacks, a move President Trump stated was aimed at regime change. The Iranian Red Crescent has reported that over 500 people have been killed in the strikes, which have also prompted retaliatory missile and drone attacks from Iran on Israel and U.S. bases in the region. In San Francisco, several hundred protesters gathered outside the Speaker Nancy Pelosi Federal Building on Saturday. The demonstration was organized by a coalition of groups including the Party for Socialism and Liberation and the Palestinian Youth Movement, who led chants calling the joint military operation a war crime. Similar rallies took place in Oakland and Berkeley. Protesters' demands included an immediate halt to the military action and an end to U.S. intervention in the Middle East, with signs and chants like "No boots on the ground, no bombs in the air." Organizers selected the federal building as the protest site to send a clear message to lawmakers in Washington D.C. and the Bay Area. The protests add to the Bay Area's long history of anti-war activism, which has included major demonstrations against the wars in Vietnam and Iraq. Past protests have seen tens of thousands take to the streets and engage in mass civil disobedience, such as the "battle of San Francisco" in 2003, which led to thousands of arrests. The military strikes have been denounced by California Governor Gavin Newsom and other Democratic lawmakers as an "illegal, dangerous war" undertaken without the required congressional authorization. This has intensified efforts in Congress to vote on resolutions that would reassert its power to declare war and limit the president's ability to engage in prolonged conflict. While the protests focused on de-escalation, the reaction within the Iranian diaspora has been mixed. In Los Angeles, thousands gathered to celebrate the death of Khamenei and the strikes against the regime. Inside Iran and among its critics abroad, there is a deep division between those who support foreign intervention and those who fear it will lead to more devastation while subverting domestic efforts for change.