(KRON) — After days of tension, protests outside Coast Guard Island in Alameda are finally starting to wind down. On Saturday morning, activists took their message off land and onto the water.
At sunrise, dozens of kayakers paddled through the Oakland Estuary, surrounding Coast Guard Island with signs that read ‘No ICE in the Bay,’ opposing the deployment of federal immigration agents.
Luna Angulo, an activist, stated, “Regardless of whether they are here in the moment or not, ICE is not welcome in our communities. An invasion by the federal government is not welcomed by the people of the Bay Area. And we are going to continue to resist.”
Protesters had previously blocked the bridge leading to Coast Guard Island, but it is now clear.
Thursday night, tensions reached a boiling point when federal officers fired non-lethal pepper balls at a person who tried to drive a U-Haul truck through a police line.
Unlike earlier this week, Saturday’s protest remained peaceful.
Activists say they plan to continue protesting, now calling on their neighbors to step up too.
Angulo encouraged neighbors to stand up for immigrant communities by joining a watch-your-block group, a rapid response network, or a local mutual aid network.
President Trump has said ICE and National Guard troops will not be deployed into San Francisco itself, but many are still watching closely to see whether federal operations could expand into other parts of the Bay Area.
As of now, land protests have ended, but organizers say their movement isn’t slowing down.
All facts in this report were gathered by journalists employed by KRON4. Artificial intelligence tools were used to reformat from a broadcast script into a news article for our website. This report was edited and fact-checked by KRON4 staff before being published.
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