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Occupy Oakland General Strike

November 2, 2011 by  

Occupy Oakland General Strike, Hundreds of people began to respond Oakland busy calling a general strike on Wednesday. By midmorning, more than 500 protesters had poured into Frank Ogawa Plaza in front of Oakland City Hall, listening to speakers and the preparation of the marches during the day.

Some protesters had taken to the streets, stopping traffic, forcing AC Transit to divert some buses.

The protesters, accompanied by a band, said the banks were going to express outrage over the bailouts from the federal government gave financial institutions. There was no visibile police presence.

Mayor Jean Quan, told reporters at a morning press conference, held in Center City Emergency Operations: “We are waiting to give you a boring day.”

City Manager Deanna Santana said the impact of the strike in the operations of the city so far has been “low”. Libraries, parks and business centers are open, he said.

Quan said that less than 5 percent of city employees are participating in the strike and the service of the only city that has been affected in Head Start.

Police Chief Howard Jordan said, “We believe that the protest will be peaceful and do not anticipate the need for implementing measures.”

Around 9 am, rumors circulated among the protesters and on Twitter that the Port of Oakland was closed because the dock had not come to work. However, both the Port of Oakland and the International Longshore and Warehouse Union, which represents dockworkers, said the port was open for business.

“Our terminals are operational seven. Of course, the situation changes minute to minute,” said Robert Bernard, a spokesman for the Port of Oakland.

“The port is far off. A small number of workers did not report, but the port is fully operational,” said Roy San Filippo, a spokesman for the International Longshore and Warehouse Workers Union.

Jose Rubalcaba, a trucker Wood said he has been waiting in line at the port for one hour. Usually, it takes an hour to enter and leave port.

“I heard that the port is closed but is now moving,” said Rubalcaba. “So I do not know.”

Occupy Oakland intends to go to the port on the afternoon of Wednesday, in an effort to turn it off before the night shift. In the square, a group of Service Employees International Union members were in a tent in the square mounting noisemakers on the road towards the port of Oakland this afternoon.

Dwight McElroy, president of the Oakland chapter of the SEIU, said 300 to 400 of his union members will be on the street at the end of the day.

A little before 9 am, the protesters had begun to shut off Broadway and 14th Street. From 50 to 60 people gathered at the intersection, including the driver’s Brad Newsham, 60, who lives in Oakland.

“I got stuck here, what I can do?” Newsham said.

“Is not it great?” said.

In the center of the square, protesters were on the back of a flatbed truck that was the issue of music. He urged people to tell their stories of 99% – Occupy the term movement of people who believe they are excluded from a political system that they say favors the rich.

Lisa Bettles and Josefina Rivera standing in the shadows of the truck, listening to music and speakers.

Bettles and Rivera had not been at an event before taking the events of October 25 when police fired tear gas at the demonstrators held, they said.

Women are two local organizers of the Union of Hotel and Restaurant Workers.

“I was surprised about what happened,” said Rivera, who works with a hotel union, Local 2, “These were people working.”

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