About 1,000 protesters chanting in the predawn darkness marched on the Port of Oakland on Monday in one of several rallies planned for West Coast cargo hubs by anti-Wall Street activists seeking to re-energise their movement. By trying to disrupt port traffic from California to Alaska, organisers hoped to call attention to US economic inequalities, high unemployment and a financial system they say is unfairly skewed toward the wealthy.
In Oakland, a boisterous crowd chanting, "Whose streets? Our streets. Whose ports? Our ports!" gathered at a transit station before sunrise, then paraded through the streets to the city's cargo port, where they were met by police in riot gear. Protesters then formed a picket line in front of police to block the entrance. A smaller group of demonstrators, roughly 250 to 300, rallied at a terminal facility in the Port of Long Beach, where they marched in a picket line, beat drums and shouted through bullhorns as police sought to keep the entryway clear.
A similar scene was playing out at a marine terminal in Portland, Oregon, where police on motorcycles confronted some 200 demonstrators trying to disrupt traffic. The actions come after the Occupy Wall Street movement that began in New York in September saw its tent camps there and in most big cities on the West Coast dismantled by police, leaving demonstrators looking for new avenues to voice their discontent.
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