An immigrant rights protest shut down traffic on the world's busiest bridge

Rush hour traffic on the world’s busiest bridge—the George Washington Bridge connecting New York and New Jersey—came to a temporary stand-still on Wednesday morning, as a group of immigrant rights activists blocked vehicles headed into Manhattan along the structure’s upper deck.

According to NBC New York, delays lasted up to 90 minutes, after activists from the Laundry Workers Center chained themselves across the asphalt. In response, at least one enraged driver physically scuffled with protesters in an attempt to reopen the road.

On its website, the Laundry Workers Center describes itself as a “not-for-profit, member-led organization that provides community-based leadership development to improve the living and working conditions of low wage laundry, warehouse, and food service workers in New York City and New Jersey.” Members, the group contends, are “primarily low-income immigrant workers who believe in social and economic justice.”

Wednesday morning’s protest appeared to be part of a larger planned action, operating under the hashtags #wearevisible and #somosvisible. LWC has an additional protest planned for Wednesday evening in New York’s Union Square park, writing on Facebook that it is “a rally to make our struggles, our pain and our POWER #Visible.”