A group of 20 women holding signs that read "unity" briefly slowed traffic on the 405 freeway in Costa Mesa on Friday afternoon.
The group of demonstrators, who were dressed in athletic wear, ran onto the northbound lanes of the freeway out of five cars near Bristol Street around noon. The women joined hands and jogged while holding signs that read "unity," while some had the words "freedom," "future" and "unity" written on their bodies. They traveled several hundred yards before exiting around Bear Street.
An organizer told the L.A. Times that they had all met up in Costa Mesa's Shiffer Park before the demonstration, and that most participants were from Orange County. The organizer declined to say what the motivation was for the demonstration, but it comes after two nights of anti-Trump protests nationwide, including one that shut down the 101 freeway on Wednesday night.
The drivers in the demonstration held up traffic behind the women, who were also greeted by a photographer who snapped photos ahead of them. By the time California Highway Patrol responded to the scene, demonstrators had already left the freeway. An official with the CHP told LAist that they had two of the license plates of the cars involved, but did not say whether they would follow-up on the incident.
The incident is apparently inspired by an old YouTube video of a skateboarder riding down the same stretch of the 405:
