West Coast Port Shutdown: Twitter Updates From The Port Of Oakland

Robyn Gee on Monday, Dec. 12th

Today marks a big move for Occupy protesters on the West Coast. At dawn across the West Coast, protesters marched toward port terminals in Portland, Long Beach, Seattle, Ventura County and Oakland to halt truck drivers from participating in morning shifts.

Their rallying cry was to hurt the corporations that make up “Wall Street on the Waterfront” — like Goldman Sachs and EGT — companies that run shipping operations at many West Coast ports.

According to SF Gate, almost half of the berths at the Port of Oakland were shut down at around noon, with over a hundred protesters in attendance (although Oakland Police reported upwards of 1200 protesters). The protesters are planning to return to the port to shut down the evening shift at 5 p.m.

To follow the West Coast events we suggest searching Twitter for the hashtag #D12, and #OccupyOakland. You can also follow Turnstyle News updates on Twitter live from Frank Ogawa Plaza at 3 p.m.

Below is a Twitpic narration of what went down at the Port of Oakland this morning.

@occupytheport / Port map to help coordinate / comm.

@susie_c / Pepper spray cut-out.

@garonsen / Boots Riley explains the game plan at the port.

@timlohrent / Occupy Oakland drum crew at Berth 30 – 32 gate shut down.

@OccupiedOaktrib / First trucker honks and cheers in support.

Side note: Our reporting shows that truckers that work out of the Port of Oakland are divided when it comes to supporting today’s shutdown. The Teamster union of transportation workers decided not to support the shutdown because a) they legally and contractually cannot support a strike, and b) because they declared to stand in solidarity with non-union truck drivers who will lose wages once the port is shut down. Check out Turnstyle’s coverage of the port truckers here, and an open letter from truck drivers on the website for the Coalition for Clean and Safe Ports.