Occupy Protesters Take Over Ports

Up and down the West Coast, Occupy protesters are attempting to close all ports on Monday, including the normally busy Port of Oakland.

In Oakland, several hundred protesters gathered at the West Oakland BART Station in the pre-dawn hours before marching a few blocks to the port. When they arrived, they blocked at least two entrances to the port, not allowing trucks to enter. They were also met by a line of police in riot gear, although there were no reports of any physical confrontations.

Around 10:15 Monday morning, the group declared victory in shutting down morning activity at the port and began to disassemble. They plan on reassembling later in the afternoon and marching back to the port in an effort to shutdown the PM activities.

This is all part of a call for one day of action to shut down ports up and down the West Coast, including San Diego, Portland, Los Angeles, Tacoma and Seattle, among others. Occupy Oakland protesters previously shut down the Port of Oakland during a daylong general strike on November 2 as thousands of marchers blocked trucks from entering and leaving the port.

Photo Credit: @broozta, via Twitter

It's simple. Keith Mizuguchi loves to write and write and write some more. After taking a hiatus from the journalism business, he has rekindled his passion for writing over the last two years, holding a job as both a web and on-air writer for San Francisco news radio station KCBS. While he enjoys the news business, his true passions are twofold: sports and food. Bay Area born and raised, he lives in San Jose, commutes to SF and loves every minute of it. You can follow his food adventures on Twitter @foodie_keith.