A protester spent nearly a week perched atop one of Washington, D.C.'s tallest bridges, refusing to come down until war ended. His defiance ended Wednesday morning when authorities finally pulled him off the 168-foot structure.
Guido Reichstadter, a 45-year-old former jeweler and math student, climbed the bridge Friday night. He told people he planned to stay "until the war is ended"—a protest against both the conflict with Iran and the rapid development of artificial intelligence.
But by Sunday, his water supply ran dry. On Tuesday, he posted online that he would descend Wednesday morning. "I'll probably be going to jail for a while when I get down," he wrote. "I hope that this action has offered something to motivate and inspire you, and that it can serve as fuel for greater commitment and action in the cause of peace and in the fight for our future."
At around 9 a.m., emergency crews moved in. Firefighters used equipment to guide him down through an internal passageway inside the bridge. Video showed him riding to the ground in the basket of a ladder truck before being ushered into an ambulance.
Reichstadter now faces charges including crowding, obstructing, unlawful entry, and failing to obey an officer. Authorities have not disclosed the total cost or resources expended during the six-day standoff.
Why did he risk everything? He quit his job to protest because he has two children. "I've lived a full life. I've been married, I've been in love, I've had a career. I don't know if they're gonna have that," he said. "And that's the most important thing in the world to me, is their future and the future of the whole human race."
He called the state of AI development "dire," claiming frontier AI companies aim to "create AI systems which vastly outperform human cognitive capabilities in every respect." He also condemned Congress for inaction on the war with Iran, though he insisted no country—including the U.S.—should possess nuclear weapons.
"I'm not making excuses, or under any illusions that it is not an autocratic regime which has committed atrocities on its own people," he said. "But the path to a safe future does not involve nuclear weapons held by any state."
This wasn't his first act of civil disobedience. He had been arrested before for protesting AI development—twice at OpenAI's San Francisco campus and again in 2025 for violating a court order to stay away from the facility. Court records show he pleaded guilty to unlawful entry, receiving a suspended 90-day sentence, 18 months of probation, and a $50 fine.
Though his bridge protest coincided with May Day demonstrations, Reichstadter said he is not part of that movement. His singular mission: to sound the alarm for his children's future—and for humanity's.
