Authorities used tear gas early Thursday on anti-Wall Street protesters who defied orders to disperse after earlier shutting down the Port of Oakland, California, police said.Another report starts this way:
A crowd of several hundred people threw rocks and shot fireworks at officers after being asked to leave the scene, prompting officers to fire tear gas, authorities said.
After the port protest, Occupy Oakland demonstrators returned to a city park and nearby streets, where the violence broke out.
Hazy video from the scene, posted on the Internet, showed a fire burning and fireworks exploding as at least one protester threw objects.
Police said in a statement that after a day of "primarily peaceful" demonstrations, they responded to a late-night call that protesters had broken into and occupied a downtown building and set several fires.
"The protesters began hurling rocks, explosives, bottles and flaming objects at responding officers," the statement said. "Several private and municipal buildings sustained heavy vandalism."
Dozens of protesters wielding shields were surrounded and arrested, police said.
A day of demonstrations in Oakland that began as a significant step toward expanding the political and economic influence of the Occupy Wall Street movement, ended with police in riot gear arresting dozens of protesters who had marched through downtown to break into a vacant building, shattering windows, spraying graffiti and setting fires along the way.In other words, any significance the movement may have had went up in smoke last night...as I knew it would.
"We go from having a peaceful movement to now just chaos," said protester Monique Agnew, 40.
Of all the cities having these protests Oakland is easily the likeliest one to explode in full-fledged rioting and civil unrest. Frankly, they could use some good rioting, looting and burning up there. Urban renewal in its most primal form.
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