Last week, the board discussed a growing dispute in North Dallas: For months, pro-Palestinian protesters have utilized the recently opened Northaven Trail Bridge over U.S. Highway 75 for “banner drop” protests, where organizations hang banners, flags and signs from the bridge so they can be seen from the highway. Multiple pro-Palestine groups utilize the bridge for protests, where common refrains like “from the river to the sea,” and “intifada” are chanted and chalked along the bridge’s walkways.
(Both phrases are heavily disputed between the Palestinian and Jewish communities as to whether or not their meanings are antisemitic. The Anti-Defamation League defines both phrases as such, but the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression has stated that the phrase "from the river to the sea" should be classified as protected free speech.)
While the board voiced the desire to respect the protester's First Amendment rights, they also are considering that only a mile from the bridge is the Aaron Family Jewish Community Center of Dallas. The surrounding neighborhoods are home to a significant portion of the city’s Jewish population, some of which have told the Parks board that the protests have become “terrifying.”
“I see [the protests] as a direct attack on our citizens, and a violation of our American rights. I also see law and order being disregarded,” resident Sury Sacher told the board during the meeting’s public comment period. Sacher described recently encountering the protesters while on a bike ride with her child. “As we approached the bridge, there were masses of people screaming death chants and genocidal chants, and blocking us from passing.”
She added that the protests have left vandalism in their wake that she later returned to clean herself. Photos of the bridge obtained by the Observer show chalk markings, stickers and “Free Palestine” written on the bridge in sharpie. Sacher declined to speak with the Observer about the protests, citing concerns for her family’s safety.
“Once they get done protesting we walk the bridge to make sure no damage was done, so we haven’t seen anything like [graffiti and permanent vandalism],” a Dallas Police official told the board.
Stickers, chalk markings and phrases written in permanent marker were left on the Northaven Bridge following a Pro-Palestine protest.
Dallas Observer
Other speakers, along with Parks board member Fonya Mondell, described protesters hurling rocks and other projectiles into U.S. 75. Mondell, who declined the Observer’s request for an interview, told the board her car had been struck by a rock while driving under the bridge during a protest.
A Dallas Police official told the board that each protest is manned with uniformed and undercover officers, none of whom have witnessed protesters throwing projectiles. A Dallas Police spokesperson told the Observer that he was not aware of any legitimate instances of projectiles being thrown off the bridge.
The officer added that the protesters often stand in a horizontal line along the trail’s route, so as to not block trail runners or bikers. Blocking the trail would be an enforceable infraction, the official stated, but standing along its path is not a violation of any city ordinance.
The board urged the Dallas Police Department to take stricter enforcement of ordinances that outlaw the hanging banners and signs from bridges.
Two protest leaders declined the Observer’s request for comment, stating that they, like Sacher, were concerned about their safety.
City Councilperson Cara Mendelsohn, whose district sits North of the bridge and who is Jewish herself, has urged the Park board to “consider permanent design changes” to the bridge that she believes would “reduce the desire” of groups to convene there, reduce the need for law enforcement on the bridge, improve highway safety and end “the terrorization of the community.”
“As you deliberate on this frequent protester and safety situation on bridges, and possible solutions, I encourage you to seek funding from the City Council to modify the Northaven bridge as soon as possible,” Mendelsohn, who chairs the Public Safety Committee, wrote in her charge to the board. “The level of antisemitism felt by Dallas Jews has grown significantly, and you can be part of eliminating one source of fear and concern for the Dallas Jewish community.”
The board discussed retrofitting the bridge with opaque plexiglass, which would keep protesters out of the highway’s view and prevent banner drops or signs being hung from the bridge. Mendelsohn told the Observer that she has received reports of items being thrown from the bridge during protests, something she doesn’t believe happens regularly but could be remedied by installing the panels.
Mendelsohn also voiced concerns that the pedestrian bridges over Hillcrest and DNT will "allow for similar banner drops" once opened. She asked the board to consider preemptively modifying each bridges' design, a suggestion that was met with varying levels of interest.
“There’s no way for us to feasibly put plexiglass up on every bridge this could occur on,” Daniel Wood, Parks board member for District 7, said during the meeting. “I think that it would be unsightly. We did these bridges for aesthetics and I think that it’s an impossible thing, in my opinion, to try to retrofit something.”
At the conclusion of the board’s first, but perhaps not last, discussion on the matter, the body instructed city staff to move forward with looking into a process that would require a city-issued permit for trail-based activities.
