Anti-war protester hauled down from 168-foot DC bridge after 6-day stunt, police file multiple charges

An anti-war and anti-AI protester who ascended one of the tallest bridges in Washington, D.C., was arrested by authorities Wednesday after camping out atop the landmark for nearly a week.

Guido Reichstadter was safely removed from the bridge and is charged with crowding, obstructing or incommoding, unlawful entry and failing to obey an officer, the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) told Fox News Digital.

Reichstadter, 45, a former jeweler and math student, climbed the 168-foot bridge Friday night and previously told Fox News Digital he planned to stay there “until the war is ended.”

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However, on Tuesday, he posted on X that his water ran out Sunday and he planned on returning to the ground Wednesday morning.

“I’ll probably be going to jail for a while when I get down,” Reichstadter wrote in the post. “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.”

FOX 5 D.C. reported he began his dismount at about 9 a.m. local time, with firefighters and emergency crews using equipment to assist.

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He appeared to use an internal passageway inside the bridge during his dismount, the outlet reported.

Video showed Reichstadter traveling back to the ground in the basket of a fire department ladder truck before he was ushered into an ambulance.

MPD declined Fox News Digital’s request for the total cost and amount of resources expended during the six-day incident.

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The activist, who was protesting the war with Iran and AI development, told Fox News Digital 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.”

Reichstadter described the state of AI development as “dire,” saying he believes the goal of frontier AI companies is “to create AI systems which vastly outperform human cognitive capabilities in every respect.”

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He also condemned Congress for its alleged inaction in relation to the war with Iran, though he noted he does not believe the U.S. or any other country should have 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, but the path to a safe future does not involve nuclear weapons held by any state,” he said.

Though Reichstadter’s protest coincided with “May Day” protests,” he said he is not involved in the movement.

He was previously arrested on charges related to AI protests in California. He was twice arrested for protesting on OpenAI’s San Francisco campus, and arrested again in 2025 for violating a judge’s order not to return.

Court records show he pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor unlawful entry charge, receiving a suspended 90‑day sentence, 18 months of probation and a $50 fine, FOX 5 reported.

Fox News Digital’s Robert McGreevy contributed to this report.

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