MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Anti-Wall Street demonstrators march on West Coast ports

“Whose ports? Our ports” shouted the protestors

Anti-Wall Street demonstrators, confronted by police in riot gear, marched on several West Coast ports on Monday seeking to disrupt cargo traffic and re-energize their protest movement.

By singling out port operations from San Diego, California, to Anchorage, Alaska, organizers hoped to call attention to US economic inequalities, high unemployment and a financial system they say is unfairly tilted toward the wealthy.

While morning arrivals of trucks and dockworkers were disrupted at some terminals, demonstrators appeared to fail in their bid to cause large-scale immobilization of commerce. A handful was arrested in Long Beach and San Diego.

The biggest protest unfolded in Oakland, where roughly 1,000 activists chanting “Whose ports? Our ports!” gathered at a transit station before dawn, then paraded through the streets to the city's cargo port and split into groups to try blocking terminal entrances.

Tractor-trailers en route into the facility, the nation's fifth busiest container port by volume, were prevented from entering at least two terminals where protesters formed picket lines in front of police.

Port officials reported sporadic disruptions throughout the complex, including delayed arrivals of workers, but denied port business had been halted or severely curtailed.