Monday, Dec. 12

1 p.m. - Morning/early afternoon recap

The West Oakland BART station parking lot was packed with protesters of all ages at the shockingly early-morning hour of 5:30 am.

Chants of “We are the 99%” and “Whose Port? Our Port!” became the rally cry as Occupy Oakland moved into the streets and headed for the Port of Oakland in what became an officially “successful” morning-shift port-shutdown.

The crowd of more than 1,500 people moved quickly down the wide street to the port, with police cars leading the charge. As we arrived to the port, organizers began calling for 45-50 people to take over each terminal. Accordingly, a group would break off to seal an entrance as the rest surged onward.

At terminal Entrance/Berths 55, 56 there were well more than 200 protesters. An organizer with a megaphone would intermittently cheer on the crowd with messages from fellow occupiers and their success of closing off various port entrances. Still others gave occasional updates of West Coast port shutdowns. The crowd cheered with joy at news of the closure of ports in Portland, Vancouver and Long Beach among others. And the picket line continued with renewed vigor, as a boom-box blasting Michael Jackson beats that facilitated dance and much needed warmth in the frigid, foggy early morning hours.

Meanwhile the occasional bike messenger rushed past the crowd yelling frantically that “Fifty riot police are headed this way!” or “Berths 30/32 are in desperate need of support! Police are moving in.” In fact, a row of riot police did eventually arrive to 55/56, but withheld attacking the marchers.

A drizzle set in around 7:30 a.m., and with it arrived a small Toyota truck from Food not Bombs. A line quickly formed for coffee, tea and pastries. Additionally a cheerful 9-year girl and her mother passed out fresh oatmeal raisin cookies to port truck drivers, some of whom came to chat with marchers.

Three port truckers from Sacramento were causally gathered near their idling, loaded trucks and explained that they were happy the occupiers had come. They said there was a nearby yard where they could offload their cargo if the port did not open, and they would then return home for the day with half a day’s wage of $300.

By 10 a.m., Occupy Oakland organizer Boots Riley had declared a “major victory” explaining that “effectively the Port of Oakland was shutdown.” He said people could go home, but called on everyone to rally to Oscar Grant Plaza at 3 p.m. for a march to shutdown the evening shift at the port.

On the walk back to West Oakland BART, Longshoreman Deandre Whittan told me “Most of us are not getting paid today, but we support this. We are the 99%, too.”

~ Steve Fisher

11 a.m.

Port truckers provided an additionl  response to the action taking place throughout the day in an open letter on the Coalition for Clean and Safe Ports website:

"We are the front-line workers who haul container rigs full of imported and exported goods to and from the docks and warehouses every day.

"We have been elected by committees of our co-workers at the Ports of Los Angeles, Long Beach, Oakland, Seattle and Tacoma to tell our collective story. We have accepted the honor to speak up for our brothers and sisters about our working conditions despite the risk of retaliation we face. One of us is a mother, the rest of us fathers. Between the four of us we have six children and one more baby on the way. We have a combined 31 years of experience driving cargo from our shores for America’s stores.

"We are inspired that a non-violent democratic movement that insists on basic economic fairness is capturing the hearts and minds of so many working people. Thank you “99 Percenters” for hearing our call for justice. We are humbled and overwhelmed by recent attention. Normally we are invisible.

"Today’s demonstrations will impact us. While we cannot officially speak for every worker who shares our occupation, we can use this opportunity to reveal what it’s like to walk a day in our shoes for the 110,000 of us in America whose job it is to be a port truck driver. It may be tempting for media to ask questions about whether we support a shutdown, but there are no easy answers. Instead, we ask you, are you willing to listen and learn why a one-word response is impossible?"

Read more here ...

Scenes from this morning's protests

~ By Irene Florez

9:15 a.m.

According to our reporter Steve L Fisher, the demonstrators at Berth 55/56 are letting trucks pass; numbers are down to about 100 demonstrators. Police are reapproaching the scene.

~Oakland Local staff reports

8 a.m.

According to the Port of Oakland, as of 8 a.m., the city of Oakland and the port have both activated their Emergency Operations Center in response to the Occupy actions today.

Port of Oakland Spokesman Isaac Kos Read said, "The port is operational, there are operations going on at all terminals" at the Port of Oakland

However, Kos Read said, there are disruptions occurring throughout the (port) area.

Kos Read declined to quantify the Occupy disruption.

"I'm not going to put a number on it," he said.

The Emergency Operations Center is long standing interdisciplinary group of law enforcement, city and port officials. Kos Read said the group works create coordinated action to help minimize disruptions.

~Jennifer Inez Ward

6 a.m.

More than 1,500 marchers are at the port this morning, according to Oakland police.

Four hundred protesters at Berths 55/56 of the port are marching to shut down the facility at the same time that police in riot gear are massing to stop them. Carrying cameras and signs that say "Shut down Wall Street n the Waterfront" protesters are holding - and blocking - usage of this area. Demonstrations are happening along the West Coast as part of a nationally orchestrated protest,

In a Sunday night letter to organizers, Oakland Mayor Jean Quan asked demonstrators not to shut down the Port.

"I encourage those who want to make a statement on Monday to do so peacefully and respectfully - and the to keep the port open. The livelihoods of many of the 99 percent here in Oakland and throughout Northern California depend on it."

Oakland Local's team will continue to report on this story with our team at the port and downtown. Photos and news will be added here as news and information develops.

~Oakland Local staff reports