Antiwar group seeks to shut port of Oakland with picket line

[thedrifter]

Protesters plan to stop war shipments

Antiwar group seeks to shut port of Oakland with picket line

By Tom Curry
MSNBC

April 3 ? Shifting protests against the war in Iraq to a new level, a San Francisco group says that it will set up a picket line Monday to block supplies being shipped to U.S. forces fighting in Iraq. The group, Direct Action to Stop the War, said will attempt to ?shut down the war merchants? at the port of Oakland by urging members of the International Longshore and Warehouse Union to not cross the picket line.
THE TARGET OF Monday?s action is American President Lines, a cargo carrier that has contracts with the Defense Department to ship supplies to U.S. forces overseas.
The port of Oakland is the fourth-busiest cargo container port in the United States.

?UNJUST AND ILLEGAL?
?Whether or not war cargo is there on that day, we are trying to send a message to APL that we oppose their profiting off this unjust and illegal war,? said Sasha Wright, an organizer with Direct Action to Stop the War. ?We will hold them accountable.?
Patrick Reinsborough, a spokesman for the group, said it hoped that members of Local 10 of the International Longshore and Warehouse Union would respect the picket line, as union members usually do, and thus shut down APL?s Oakland operations by refusing to work.
Asked whether cutting off supplies to American soldiers would jeopardize their lives, Wright said, ?We feel like the war is what?s putting their lives in danger. This is an effort to save lives by stopping the war as quickly as possible.?
ILWU spokesman Steve Stallone told MSNBC.com ?the union is much like the rest of American society, it?s split on the war.?
But, he said, ?Our contract is that we are supposed to load those ships ? and we have every intention of abiding by our contract.?
Although the ILWU opposed the Vietnam War in 1960s, its members continued to load cargo ships carrying military materiel to U.S. forces in Vietnam.





A source at the port who spoke on condition of anonymity said Direct Action?s protest was misplaced. ?Ninety-five percent of what?s shipped out of Oakland (to Iraq) is food which is going to help Iraqi citizens,? he said.
Reinsborough said that on Monday some antiwar activists would also seek to disrupt shipments at the Concord Naval Weapons Station, which is northeast of Oakland.
Across the bay from Oakland, antiwar demonstrators in San Francisco disrupted traffic in the city?s? financial district two weeks ago, leading Mayor Willie Brown to criticize them.
?Some protesters ... have chosen to specifically try to disrupt this city, rather than gather peacefully to voice their desire for peace, at the expense of the day-to-day lives of ordinary San Franciscans and at a great cost to this city,? Brown said.
?It is one of the painful ironies of this war that one of the most anti-war cities in the nation, San Francisco, is being disproportionately harmed by the tactics of anti-war protesters.?

Sempers,

Roger

[thedrifter]

Apr 7, 3:20 PM EDT

Police Attack Calif. Anti-War Protesters

By MARTHA MENDOZA
AP National Writer





OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) -- Police opened fire with non-lethal projectiles at an anti-war protest at the Port of Oakland on Monday morning, injuring at least six demonstrators and six longshoremen standing nearby.

Most of the 500 demonstrators at the port were dispersed peacefully, but police opened fire at two gates when protesters refused to move and police said some of them threw rocks and bolts. The longshoremen, pinned against a fence, were caught in the line of fire.

Demonstrators said they targeted the port because at least one company there is handling war supplies. They said it was the first time they had been fired upon in Bay area protests since the Iraq war began last month.

"Oakland police are being the most aggressive of any department I've seen in the Bay Area since the war began," said protester Damien McAnany, a database manager. "The San Francisco Police Department never used any of this stuff against us."

Oakland Police said at least 24 people were arrested
"Some people were blocking port property and the port authorities asked us to move them off," said Deputy Police Chief Patrick Haw. "Police moved aggressively against crowds because some people threw rocks and big iron bolts at officers."

Police spokeswoman Danielle Ashford said officers fired bean-bag rounds and wooden dowels. They also used "sting balls," which send out a spray of BB-sized rubber pellets and a cloud of tear gas.

"When they hit you, it feels like a bee sting," Haw said.

Six longshoremen were treated by paramedics, as were at least six protesters. Injuries included bruises and welts.

"I was standing as far back as I could," said longshoremen Kevin Wilson. "It was very scary. All of that force wasn't necessary."

Trent Willis, a business agent for the International Longshore and Warehouse Union, said enraged dockworkers were leaving the docks after the incident.

"They shot my guys. We're not going to work today," Willis said. "The cops had no reason to open up on them."

Last week, a San Francisco-based peace group, Direct Action to Stop the War, had announced that it would stage a series of protests Monday involving new acts of civil disobedience.

Protests also took place Monday at the federal building in San Francisco and at the Concord Naval Weapons Station. And seven people were arrested when they temporarily blocked an exit ramp off Interstate 280 in San Francisco.

Sempers,

Roger

[frisco-kid]

These Oakland cops aren't as warm and fuzzy as the San Francisco cops. Can't blame them much. Oakland led the state in homicides per capita last year, and is on the same pace this year. I was listening to this, live, on the radio. Like the article said, the police were assaulted with thrown items and taunted in a menacing manner by the protestors. Unclear who did what first.

Saturday there was a large turn out of protestors marching through downtown Oakland. Their staging area was about a mile from my house. While running some errands, I had to drive past/through some of it. My license plates are veteran plates with 101st insignia and personalized 66VNAM. I have a Jumpwings decal in my rear window. I was wearing my PSYCHO VET hat. I got some looks, but no one pondered long in front of my car .

These people don't have alot of credibility with me. First of all, they're abit late to protest this war. It's already started. Are they really so stupid/naive to think that the war will stop, and everybody will come home because of their protests? I think most of them are just a bunch of rich, spoiled college kids using this as an excuse to cut class, participate in some civil disobedience, thumb their noses at authority, and get some bragging rites for getting arrested. I agree that they have the right to protest, but statistics tell me that this age group [19-25] excercises their right to vote less than any other age group. Seems to me they don't have alot of Bitching Rights about government policy.

[catman]

Tom...on target brother, fire for effect!

Trav

[sn-e3]

I haven't felt this good since they blew away them assholes at Kent State. Sorry folks thats just the way I feel. Nice picture at Yahoo.com of a very sore peacenik.

[SuperScout]

If you will, kindly let me disabuse you of the notion that most of these maggots are simply spoiled little rich kids, with nothing else to do. These are professional protestors, with the heart of anarchists and/or marxists, who are trying to destroy our way of life, and has nothing to do with protesting the war. I will also say that they have the right PEACEABLY to assemble, quoting the First Amendment, but not a right to impede commerce, to trespass on private property, or to impinge on any others' rights. They truly are virtual idiots, without a clue of reality. What amazes me is the extraordinary patience of the police, who probably want to smack some heads with some night sticks. These protestors might want to thank their lucky stars that I'm not an Oakland cop, as my patience factor flatlined long ago.

[frisco-kid]

That's a true story, Bud. However, the majority of the actual participants are of the age group I mentioned. There are alot of them though, that are of the age to where you just knew they were doing the same shit 30+ yrs, ago. These are some very well organized protests with their own websites, news letters, etc.. Many of the organizers aren't even in this area. On the 1st or 2nd day of the war, San Francisco had it's largest of several protests in it's streets. The arrest reports showed that 2/3 of the participants were from outside The City. From Seattle to San Diego, to Salt Lake City, to Phoenix. How did they know to converge here?

[Jerry D]

I agree with Scout the pro-protestors have web-sites and email that tells them where to meet to protest and they get a place to crash and food to eat useually provided free to them by the peacenik groups, I wonder if we could get a nation wide 3 strikes law passed where the professional protestors caught protesting across the country x amount of times thru civil disobediance like in Oakland would get more then their wrist slapped and sent home maybe a week in the County Correctional Center meeting new friends would change their mind of it being "fun" being arrested .....