for getting answers on what has been a very busy thursday. i'm julian glover. we are tracking several major stories for you today. first, a protest on the bay bridge that caused unprecedented gridlock during the morning commute around 745. this morning, demonstrators took

over the bridge blocking all westbound lanes by chaining themselves to parked vehicles. you can see from this video the top deck was empty. drivers couldn't get into san francisco from the east bay for several hours and those protesters were calling for a cease fire in the ongoing fighting between israel and hamas. chp says 80 people were arrested for this coordinated demonstration. all all lanes of the bridge reopened just before noon. we showed you that live on midday live. and now we have this live video of the toll plaza. and you can see traffic is flowing smoothly in both directions. but the question is, how could this happen, especially with beefed up traffic control because of aipac? we'll talk to the san francisco sheriff and caltrans coming up in about ten minutes. and speaking of aipac, today has been another key day at the summit. president joe biden made his case to america's ceos. and fresh off of his meeting with china's president xi jinping, biden told leaders the us is not going anywhere as it looks to

build economic ties. with that comment, biden aimed to send a clear message about american leadership. this all comes as president and heads of state are attending apec for another packed day. abc7 news anchor kristen sze has been covering the summit all week long for us. she joins us live now from moscone center with more. hey, kristen. >> hey, julian. yes, a lot going on here today. the world leaders are still meeting with their staffs, still trying to work out that framework on global trade and also sustainability and climate. so we'll have more on that for you at 4 or 5 and six today. but guess what? right now at 3:00, i am with the woman of the hour. the mayor of the host city of san francisco, mayor london breed. hello >> hi, how are you? i can't believe you have the time to make it. >> here you are everywhere. i've seen you everywhere. >> yes, i have been everywhere. trying to be a good host. trying to make sure the city is looking good, feeling good. people are here from all over the world. and they are for in love with

san francisco. and i love it. >> well, this is the almost the last day you're almost across the finish line. what do you think san francisco, in terms of how we did, what kind of grade would you give on our report card as a host city, a grade? >> well, you know, i always liked a's, so i hope we got an a from all the various visitors, the press, the leaders, the people who have been here. there have been another number of events, parties, activities, restaurants have been so packed. it's been great to see all the people all over the city. that's what this city is made for. it's made for people to be out roaming about, hanging out, spending time, nightlife, everything that you can think of. san francisco has been great. >> so what do you think are the biggest tangible wins for the city of san francisco coming out of the summit? >> well, i think that, you know, what people are saying to me directly is, you know, san francisco looks great and i must say to our city workforce, whether it's public works or our police officers or department of parking and traffic or 911 dispatchers. so many of our city

employees are doing such an extraordinary they're going above and beyond to make sure people know how amazing the city is. and so i think that people are feeling it. they're seeing it. they're sensing it, and they're saying so many great things about san francisco and how they want to come back. they want to do business here. they want to be involved somehow in this city. i was just going to say, right, there's the immediate business boom. >> but in terms of the longer term and the deals that all those world leaders are signing, do you think there'll be some longer term impact for us in terms of like investments, whether it's renewable energy or other things? >> well, definitely. and the thing that everyone is talking about is ai, artificial intelligence and openai, which is the number one ai company in the world. and they're right here in san francisco, san francisco, of all the top 20 ai companies in the world, eight are in san francisco. that's why we're the ai capital of the world. and so people are talking about this new technology and how to incorporate it into their various business models and wanting to meet and engage with

the leaders of these companies. we have over 80 ai company is leasing three point 4,000,000fts of space. right now in san francisco. so this is where it's at for ai. >> i know their exhibits were really popular and i saw that whisk that plane, the autonomous one, and all these exhibits that were quite popular and everybody was like, oh, oh, gee whiz. so that's all great for california, too. but let me ask you, i know you were really concerned about security. we did see a lot of protests on all sorts of issues. it is the city by the bay. after all, today we had the bay bridge closure. how do you think we handle overall the protests and the security? >> well, what we said from day one is that we support and protect the first amendment right of people to peacefully protest in san francisco. and that's what we've been able to do to the best of our ability. and for the most part, that's what folks have been doing. the protests are still going on. people are still able to make their voices heard. and as long as those lines aren't crossed, i mean, the police have had to

interfere when, you know, two different sides clash physically, we have to make sure that people are safe and protected. but ultimately, it's not been as bad as what i think people thought it was going to be. there are a lot of people who want to make sure people know what their opinions are. you know what they're concerned about. and we i think, have given people a platform to do that. certainly our media outlets have definitely highlighted some of the protests and given people a chance to speak out about the causes that they care about. >> let me also ask you, in terms of, you know, whether this is a reset for san francisco's narrative that had been told in international and national press , it wasn't totally crime free. there was that check photographer or a journalist who was robbed. and i know you met with them and everything, but, you know, do you think that the impression is going to be different or do you think people will go home with similar stories? >> oh, definitely. i think that the impression is are completely different people are saying that, you know, san francisco is

a lot different than what we thought. and that's really great because they're using their own experience to determine how they feel about the city. and a lot of it is a lot of great feelings. and in fact, even those two journalists, they they really felt the spirit of san francisco because immediately people reached out to them. we provided them loaner equipment. everyone really wrapped their arms around them. they were so grateful that they were able to focus on the work that they came here to do, even though it was a very you know, hard situation to be in. and we are excited about just what the story is going to be told about san francisco as a result of apec and that we can continue to move on in san francisco, can continue to welcome visitors and tourists here for years to come. >> and some folks were saying, you know, look, this area immediately where the meeting is did not see homeless tents and people were not here. the unhoused during the summit, but that there were popping up in other parts of the city. i wonder what sort of plan and strategy going forward, because i know long term what you want

is to resolve that once and for all. well, let's just make one thing clear, kristen. >> encampments aren't an rv part of the city. they haven't been in this area in general, but we have had people who struggle with addiction and homelessness in this area and people that are still in this area. they haven't just disappeared, feared, and they are, unfortunately still out there on the streets of san francisco. but what i am most proud of is after the clarity around the ninth circuit court of appeals, if we offer you shelter, you are no longer involuntarily homeless. so we can can be a lot more aggressive than we have been. and in terms of getting people into shelter and getting people indoors, and we will not stop doing what's necessary to help people get support and treatment and i think that has really made a difference in terms of the conditions of our streets. >> mayor breed, i know you have a lot of clout in san francisco, but perhaps not over the secret service. they had so many roadblocks and closures. it took me 25 minutes to cross the street, essentially. and i talked to a couple of

businesses, restaurants on third that said, you know, it's been hard for our customers to get here because of these closures. it was a little excessive. what do you tell those folks? >> well, we have asked people for patience. so, i mean, the secret service, they have a job to do. they've been working very closely with us. but ultimately, we try to demonstrate a respect for the decisions that they make, even though we don't always know or understand why those decisions are being made. we have leaders from countries all over the world, and we have to make sure that not only is our president and vice president protected, but those other leaders because the last thing we want is an international event here in san francisco that could affect things even more. so we have to support what their decisions are. it is a few days of an inconvenience, but i think that it's going to yield a significant number of results for our city. >> so the things that people really loved, including the ferris wheel being on the waterfront now, do you think that's going to is that going to continue? >> yes, we moved it there. we were trying to get it there before apec and let me tell you, it is the most beautiful view of

san francisco. you see the golden gate bridge, the bay bridge, coit tower and the city skyline from this perspective is magical. >> so it's so i am so excited about the skywheel and people should go down to fisherman's wharf and get on it right now. all right, san francisco's cheerleader. thank you so much for being with us. mayor london breed, of course. >> thank you. >> all right. mayor breed has well, probably more parties to go to tonight is what i'm guessing. >> meetings, panels, panels. >> okay. all right. you know who else is able to stop by and join us today as well? actually, a local tv news exclusive is us trade representative katherine tai, ambassador tai. so we'll have that for you in our next blog. but julianne, i'll send it back to you. okay. >> we look forward to that big interview. thank you so much, kristen. well, up next, much more on that protest that shut down the bay bridge for hours earlier today. we'll check in with the san francisco sheriff and caltrans next on getting answers

after demonstrators calling for a cease fire in the war between israel and hamas shut down the western span of the bridge for more than four hours during the morning commute, all lanes again are back open now. well, if you've driven across the bridge any day this week, you've noticed that a lane has been blocked off both east and westbound on the bridge with chp vehicles stationed about every few yards. so how did this happen? let's hear from caltrans and the san francisco sheriff's department. joining us live now is bart ney with caltrans in san francisco, sheriff paul miyamoto, we appreciate your time. thank you both for being here. happy to do it. sheriff, i'd love to start with you. we know approximately 80 people

were arrested for this demonstration. we saw many of them carted away in what we believe were sheriff's department busses. have all of those people been booked and what exactly are they being charged with? >> yes, they have been booked. and most have been cited and released at this time. we were transporting them off of the bridge to facilitate getting traffic back in flow, supporting the chp. we ended up with 81 arrests, one was transported down to our county jail at 425 seventh street. the remaining 80 were transported to an undisclosed booking location. >> and we heard from chp earlier today that they were working with the da to figure out exactly what they're going to be charged with. do you have any update on that right now? >> we have been on site releasing them to on charges both misdemeanors, unlawful assembly and also failure to disperse. >> okay. we were live on the bay bridge earlier this morning when chp did declare it to be an unlawful assembly. bart, i want to get to you now. walk us through that effort to get those

cars that were abandoned on the bridge off the bridge. we know dozens of demonstrate orders they got out of their cars, some of them tossing their keys into the bay. how many vehicles did you end up towing away? well al, it was more than just the five that you saw there originally in those aerial shots. >> it ended up being 29 different vehicles across the two mile stretch that is the eastern span of the bay bridge. and so they did effectively block westbound traffic heading into san francisco for almost four hours today. >> and at what time were you finally able to get that last car off the bridge? i know that was kind of the holdup for a while where there was some traffic being let through. then we saw traffic was essentially being turned around on the bay bridge going the opposite direction. how long did it take you to get all of those vehicles off the bridge? >> right. well well, obviously, safety is our primary concern and that's why this had to be done in a certain way that was both safe and respectful. >> and kudos to chp and all of local law enforcement who did an excellent job at a very

difficult task of removing what could be up to 200 protesters. didn't hear a final number on that. but but basically what we had to do was go through the entire the entire two mile stretch, figure out which vehicles needed to be moved, get everybody else off. and it took almost it was over 3.5 hours, just a little under four hours. the bay bridge opened back westbound about ten minutes before noon today. okay >> and we're hoping all is clear for the evening commute. sheriff, the big question here is, was law enforcement caught off guard by this demonstration in. we know that there have been huge a huge presence of law enforcement because of apec in town, some additional 1000 chp officers. and i know a number of your deputies as well. were you all just caught off guard by this? >> it wasn't that we were caught off guard. we just anticipated ahead of time that there would be large scale disruptions at some point in our city and county, and we were ready to respond when it did happen. chp did a great job in responding immediately when protesters

first acted and our follow up with the resources that we provided to get people off of the bridge safely and securely was definitely something that was planned and coordinated. i also want to shout out san mateo county sheriff who were able to provide an additional bus for us at that time and chp and ourselves and the coordination with sfpd and movement of the arrestees to the other location. and the work we did there were all part of the overall planning of the city to be prepared for just such an incident. >> sure, we know that there were certainly several law enforcement agencies from across the bay area that were responding to this large scale incident as it unfolded there on the bay bridge. and bart, we know that chp had that one lane blocked off east and west, bound on the bay bridge for several days. is there any reason that that lane was not used to let traffic through once the protesters were removed instead of kind of turning traffic back around on the bridge? yes >> yes. safety. and so, you know, it should be said that that we have been planning for

the apec conference for over a month with different agencies, and it's been made very clear to us by the san francisco mayor and our own governor that we would be on the world stage while apec was happening and so despite our best efforts, this protest did succeed at closing closing the bay bridge. but that sort of comes with a democracy. we have to leave the bay bridge open. it's one of the busiest routes in the united states of america, over 280,000 vehicles going across it every day. but the lanes that we had taken on the bridge did. there serve their purpose? right. that is how we got the needed equipment where it had to be like our tow trucks, which came from the western side and backed in to get those things out. the chp being able to access the other law enforcement agencies like like the sheriff's department. that's how we moved folks during this this closure. and it almost go back to the design of the new eastern span. that is the widest suspension bridge in the world. and so we have ten foot shoulders on either side. and they really came in handy today,

especially getting those tow trucks there in time. >> certainly. so, sheriff, final question to you. do you have any intelligence to suggest that there might be another demonstration this evening? i know a lot of folks are wondering about that as we start to think about the evening commute. >> i will say that dealing with this particular incident didn't affect us in any way, shape or form in regards to the resources we have for any other planned or unplanned events that may happen, that may be attempts to disrupt the not just apec, but the rest of the infrastructure. we have another commute coming up, as bart well knows, and we're prepared to deal with anything both in the city or on the roadways to address the problems as quickly as possible. >> okay, bart, with caltrans and sheriff paul miyamoto, we appreciate your time. thanks so much for joining us. >> take care. thank you. >> up next here on getting answers back to our apec coverage, my colleague kristen sze talked with a us ambassador for trade on the importance of the summit. their conversation is next

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of countries when it comes to that issue too. earlier today abc7 news anchor kristen sze spoke with catherine thai, a us trade representative. here's their conversation. >> while we have a lot of heads of state in town and really the woman of the hour who's been working behind the scenes hosting a lot of the ministerial meetings, probably the most busy busiest person here is us trade ambassador katherine tai. thank you for taking time out to talk with us. >> i'm so happy to have some time with you. >> i don't know how you found time. you're probably not sleeping this week, right here and there. here and there. here and there. that's great. i want to ask you, as the summit comes to an end, we still have a day, i guess. what do you think? are the biggest successes? are you happy with how things have gone? >> i'm so extremely happy being the apec host for a year means that you get to bring your colleagues from around the asia region to different parts of your country and you can show

them what you are proud of. you can show them what your hopes are, and you can also show them where your challenges are and try to get the conversation going about how we can try to solve our challenges, reach our dreams together. and so it's really such a privilege to be able to have the leaders week events here in san francisco. so there is so much to show off here in san francisco. the city is beautiful. i have colleagues who have told me they've been down to the fisherman's wharf, some have been able to drive down to carmel now, some have been trying to get out to napa and sonoma. but this region is so dynamic and there's so much history, especially history that's connected with the asia pacific. so we been able to show our counterparts a lot of the american economic history and to be able to share with them conversations that we've been having, share with them so that they can experience themselves

the dynamism that we are so proud of, especially here in san francisco, in terms of the most tangible wins, the concrete things, hopefully some of them will be in the big statement. >> what do you think they will be? >> for me as the trade minister? i think that our most significant contributions to our apec host year in terms of trade are the convening of the indigenous peoples. our indigenous community leaders coming together for of the apec economies actually invited leaders, our tribal leaders, indigenous community leaders to come and have a conversation with the entire set of apec trade ministers about what it is like. they're history, where they're challenges are and the connectivity between our indigenous peoples. so that is a first for an apec convening, an apec trade ministerial. i am hoping that peru will take this up next year and help to make it

a regular part of apec. the other thing that i'm really proud of is bringing our labor leaders in as well to meet with our trade ministers back in may in detroit. and i think that that was so profound because apec is traditionally a great government to government forum, but we know that it's really important for our partners to also be meeting the leaders of our worker organizations. and we have started that tradition here during our host year as well, are the two biggest economic giants, represent here, us and china. >> everybody is watching that relationship closely. we, of course, yesterday president biden and president xi, some agreements on fentanyl, curbing that, fighting that and also in terms of starting military communication again, very important. but was there more that you were hoping for, maybe in terms of either the trade or the climate angle? >> i think that the outcomes that were announced from the bilateral are really important ones. the fentanyl as an issue

that really gets at the potential and the experience of our fellow american. ones is a problem that we need to solve together. the other aspect of this was the military to military communication, and that is one of the most important aspects in terms of relationships between countries is having counterpart parts who you have met, who you have formed a working relationship with, who you can pick up the phone in times that are hard to check in and i think that reestablish having that channel of communication is really important and that is a very, very good piece of news. >> finally, i've got to ask you, you are arguably the most prominent person after vice president kamala harris, who is of asian-american descent, working in the biden administration and to be able to represent the administration and the us at apec with all these asian leaders here. how do you

feel about that? >> oh, i feel tremendously proud. i feel tremendously proud of being an american and in my title i am the us trade representative. and to be able to sit at that table and to convene and host these meetings and to let people know that with my asian heritage, that i am the person who has been appointed to be here to speak on behalf of the entire us economy and the united states is a tremendous honor and privilege. >> all right. thank you so much, ambassador. i really appreciate talking with you. thank you so much. >> that was our kristen sze reporting there. of course, abc seven news is your station when it comes to everything apec 2023. we're posting continue coverage on our website and our streaming apps. that's where you can find our full traffic maps, new updates and stream major breaking news as it breaks. and it has been breaking all day. download the abc7 bay area app. wherever you stream, we'll take a short break and be

hurry up. coming up on abc seven news at four, much more of our continuing coverage on aipac and of course, the major news of the day, that protest that shut down the bay bridge. world news tonight with david muir is up tonight, breaking news as we come on the air. for the first time, israel releasing video tonight, saying it shows a tunnel shaft under the largest hospital in gaza. the one they stormed with patients inside. news tonight on the hostages. my interview just moments ago with secretary of state blinken. and in the u.s., the commuter train colliding with a plow.mu