Oakland protesters shut down port
2 November 2011 Last updated at 23:18 ET California <a href="http://hospital.99mr.com/jiangmenshipifuyiyuan/"><strong>皮肤医院</strong></a> protesters shut down Oakland port Thousands of anti-corporate greed demonstrators have closed one of America's busiest ports. A spokesman for the Port of Oakland in California said maritime operations had effectively halted. The shutdown capped a day in which hundreds of city workers, including teachers, joined the call for a strike. The crowds also stopped traffic at a junction where a military veteran was seriously injured last week as protesters clashed with police. Ex-Marine Scott Olsen, 24, is recovering in an Oakland hospital after being struck on the head with a tear gas canister fired by police. That incident catapulted Oakland, which is on San Francisco Bay, to the centre of the national Occupy Wall Street movement and has spurred fresh demonstrations across the US. Elsewhere in the US on Wednesday: Police in Philadelphia arrested nine protesters who staged a sit-in inside the lobby of Comcast, America's largest cable firm In New York, about 100 military veterans marched in uniform and stopped in front of the city's stock exchange where there was a heavy police <a href="http://hospital.99mr.com/hunanshengloudishizhongyi"><strong>娄底市*医 院</strong></a> presence In Boston, college students and union workers marched on Bank of America offices and the statehouse to protest over the student debt crisis Organisers of the latest Occupy Oakland protest said they wanted to disrupt operations at the nation's fifth busiest port, which handles about 39bn (£24bn) a year in imports and exports. "At this time, maritime operations are effectively shut down at the Port of Oakland," the port said in a written statement to Reuters news agency. "Maritime area operations will resume when it is safe and secure to do so." Oakland police estimated that about 3,000 demonstrators were gathered at the port. Earlier, police said 4,500 people had marched across the city on Wednesday. A number of businesses were shut during the protests, which were largely peaceful during the day, with low police visibility. The event began with a rally outside city hall and several banks, closed for the day, were picketed. Among the demonstrators were students, families with young children and union members. One large protest banner read: "Occupy Everything, death to capitalism." Oakland officials said about 5% of employees had taken the day off, including about 360 teachers. One teacher at the rally, Brother Muziki, told AFP news agency: "Our classrooms are overcrowded. The banks are being bailed out - but not the schools." The BBC's Alastair Leithead in Los Angeles says Oakland has <a href="http://hospital.99mr.com/shanghaiboaiyiyuan/"><strong>博爱医院</strong></a> a higher than average <a href="http://inbookmark.com/mybookmark.php"><strong>仁爱医院</strong></a> unemployment rate and suffered badly during the US recession. The activists have been protesting against a system which they believe favours corporations and the nation's wealthiest 1%. (Required) Name (Required) Your E-mail address (Required) Town & Country (Required) Your telephone number (Required) Comments If you are happy to be contacted by a BBC journalist please leave a telephone number that we can contact you on. In some cases a selection of your comments will be published, displaying your name as you provide it and location, unless you state otherwise. Your contact details will never be published. When sending us pictures, video or eyewitness accounts at no time should you endanger yourself or others, take any unnecessary risks or infringe any laws. Please ensure you have read the terms and conditions. Terms and conditions Send Clear
|
Hybrid Mode
