Police Declared Occupy The Ports Unlawful Assembly, 2 Arrests Made [UPDATED]
The Occupy movement is occupying the Port of Long Beach today as part of "Occupy the Ports," a coordinated West Coast port shutdown. A few hundred protesters gathered at Harry Bridges Park near the Queen Mary at 5am and marched to a SSA Marine dock facility. With a goal to "to disrupt and blockade the economic apparatus of the 1%," occupiers are disrupting business at SSA Marine, which is partially owned by Goldman Sachs.
The Long Beach Police Department (LBPD) arrived at the scene about an hour after the protest began. Police have declared the protest unlawful assembly and are ordering protesters to stop blocking the road and move back to Harry Bridges Park. Should protesters fail to disperse, they will be arrested under section 409, which is the same charge used against Occupy L.A. arrestees during the November 30 raid. Riot gear police are also on the scene. Occupy L.A. tweeted this morning, "LBPD threatening tear gas, rubber bullets and dog bites."
We'll be watching the #d12 hashtag and liveblogging as the raid progresses. If you have any updates, photos or video, you can contact us on Twitter or email us.
1:22 PM City News Service confirms that only two protesters were arrested during the Occupy the Ports demonstration in Long Beach today. Port of Long Beach spokesman Art Wong says traffic was "briefly delayed." The Port of Long Beach posted a statement to its website that ended with, "Most freeways, bridges and port access routes remained open, and all shipping terminals were operational during the protest." The statement reaffirmed that the protest caused "minimal impact" to port operations. Demonstrators blocked part of a street leading to Pier J during the protest. At one point a tent was used to block traffic.
CNS also reported that a spokesman for a group of largely Latino truck drivers who ferry
containers from the docks said non-union drivers would honor the protest line, knowing that affected companies would lose millions in profits.
12:20 PM Port of Long Beach spokesman Art Wong told LA Weekly, "It was a relatively minimal impact on the operations," in regards to today's protest. Port officials estimated the early morning crowd at 300-400 people. Philip Sanfield, a spokesman for the Port of L.A., said the protesters had largely dispersed by 9:30am.
11:31 AM Occupy the Ports uploaded the below map of the Long Beach march route to their website.
11:23 AM Two protesters arrested at Occupy the Ports in Long Beach have been identified as Kwazi Nkrumah, a longtime L.A. activist, and a man from Riverside named Nick, reports Huffington Post. Protest organizer Michael Novick told L.A. Now, "We've already blocked 200 trucks from coming in," earlier this morning. Contrasting with other reports, the Port of Long Beach says the protest did not disrupt business.
10:22 AM America's port truck drivers have released an open letter addressing Occupy the Ports. Read it here.
10:11 AM Most protesters are reportedly returning to Harry Bridges Park. Police presence has decreased, but officers continue to order protesters to move to the park.
9:39 AM KTLA reports that the arrest pictured below was made when "pushing and shoving" between police and protesters occurred earlier this morning. As of 8:28am, the arrest is the only documented detainment so far. Occupiers did manage to shut down access to the port this morning. Trucks were unable to access the shipping terminal and were forced to turned around. Various police agencies are reported to be at or have been at the protest, including LBPD, LAPD, California Highway Patrol and Harbor Patrol.
9:07 AM Occupy L.A. uploaded a photo to Facebook of a man being arrested. LBPD continues to order protesters to return to Harry Bridges Park.
Photo via Facebook
