Occupy Oakland Shuts Down Port Of Oakland And Other Businesses, Gets Violent Once Again

The poor people in Oakland might be more fed up than any of the other American fed up poor people organizing “Occupy” protests.

After drawing international attention last week when their “peaceful protest” turned into a violent confrontation with Oakland PD, Occupy Oakland protesters organized a general strike yesterday that actual managed to shut down the Port of Oakland.

Occupy Wall Street protesters declared victory after thousands of demonstrators shut down one of the nation’s busiest shipping ports late Wednesday, escalating a movement whose tactics had largely been limited to marches, rallies and tent encampments since it began in September.

The nearly 5-hour protest at the Port of Oakland, the nation’s fifth-busiest shipping port, was intended to highlight a daylong “general strike” in the city, which prompted solidarity rallies in New York, Los Angeles and other cities across the nation.

Police estimated that a crowd of about 3,000 had gathered at the port at the height of the demonstration around dusk. Some had marched from the city’s downtown, while others had been bused to the port.

The port wasn’t the only business/commercial activity affected either.

Nurse, teacher and other worker unions took part in the protests, and Oakland is letting city workers use vacation or other paid time to take part in the general strike. About 5 percent of city workers took the day off Wednesday, according to City Administrator Deanna Santana.

About 360 Oakland teachers didn’t show up for work, or roughly 18 percent of the district’s 2,000 teachers, said Oakland Unified School District spokesman Troy Flint. The district has been able to get substitute teachers for most classrooms, and where that wasn’t possible children were sent to other classrooms, he said.

Wednesday evening, union members from SEIU and the California Nurses Association could be seen marching in the crowd towards the Port of Oakland. City officials estimate that about 4,500 people participated in the day’s various events but by late afternoon, the crowd was estimated to have grown by several thousand more. At one point the crowd was estimated to be as large as 10,000.

As much as people hoped and would like to think that the non-violent strike remained peaceful, that’s not quite the case.