OAKLAND, Calif (Reuters) ? Thousands of protesters blocked a major Oakland intersection on Wednesday to rally against economic inequality and police brutality, in demonstrations marred by scattered vandalism.
But the protest fell short of paralyzing the Northern California city that was catapulted to the forefront of national anti-Wall Street protests after a former Marine was badly wounded during a march and rally last week.
While several downtown Oakland bank branches and stores closed for the day, and port workers were sent home early ahead of a planned afternoon march, schools and most businesses in remained open and commerce largely carried on as usual.
Protest organizers said they had effectively closed Oakland's port, among the nation's biggest container ports, after some longshore workers stayed away, but a spokesman for the facility said it was open.
"Marine terminals are generally operating, although the situation is fluid," port spokesman Isaac Kos-Read said in a statement, adding that each terminal operates independently.
The anti-Wall Street activists, who complain bitterly about a financial system they believe benefits mainly corporations and the wealthy, had aimed to disrupt commerce, with a special focus on banks and other symbols of corporate America.
"A lot of the small businesses actually have closed," organizer Cat Brooks said, describing her view of a response to a call for a general strike. "A lot of the food places and other things, we appreciate them staying open (to feed protesters)."
The demonstrations centered at Frank Ogawa Plaza adjacent to city hall, scene of a tug-of-war last week between police who cleared a protest encampment there and protesters who sought to return, and ultimately succeeded in doing so.
Protesters were also blocking the downtown intersection of 14th street and Broadway, where ex-Marine Scott Olsen was wounded during confrontations with police.
Windows were smashed at several nearby Oakland banks and a Whole Foods market, with pictures of the damage posted on Twitter. It was not immediately clear who was responsible.
Oakland Police spokeswoman Johnna Watson confirmed the reports of vandalism but did not comment further. The city of Oakland estimated the crowd at 4,500 and said it was largely peaceful despite reports of vandalism.
Few uniformed police officers were spotted at the rally.
LABOR SYMPATHETIC
Local labor leaders, while generally sympathetic to the protesters, said their contracts prohibited them from proclaiming an official strike. Craig Merrilees, a spokesman for the International Longshore and Warehouse Union, said about 40 of 325 unionized port workers had stayed off the job.
"There was no call for a strike by the union," he said.
Port employees were sent home at 3:30 p.m., the port spokesman said, ahead of a planned march on the port due later in the afternoon, although some of the terminals planned to continue operating through the evening.
Oakland Unified School District spokesman Troy Flint said more than 300 teachers stayed home, most of those having made formal requests the night before.
"We did have to scramble a little bit to cover the extra absences," Flint said, adding that some classes were combined but that no students were left unsupervised.
Flint said some students were also thought to have missed school for the protests but "we haven't heard of major absences beyond the norm."
Thom Reinhardt, 33, who teaches biology and engineering at Oakland High School, said that about 10 to 15 teachers out of some 75 at the school decided to protest during the day.
"The sentiment (for the others) was that they didn't want to leave their students," he said.
Other residents like Rebecca Leung, 33, who works at an architectural lighting sales company, went about their ordinary activities. Leung said she supported the theme of the protests and would check them out during her lunch break.
"I don't really feel striking is necessary. I work for a small company, I don't work for Bank of America," she said.
'IN DEFENSE OF SCOTT OLSEN'
The owner of a flower shop near the plaza, meanwhile, said that the weeks of protests and ongoing encampment had only served to hurt his small business.
"Business has not been the same. Everything has gone downhill around here, the noise, the ambience and the customers," the man, who identified himself as Usoro, told Reuters. "I can't afford to close down."
It was the wounding of Olsen, a former Marine turned peace activist who suffered a serious head injury during protests last week, that seemed to galvanize protesters and broadened their mission to include police brutality.
He remains in an Oakland hospital in fair condition.
Protest organizers say Olsen, 24, was struck by a tear gas canister fired by police. Acting Oakland Police Chief Howard Jordan has opened an investigation into the incident but has not said how he believes Olsen was wounded.
"We stand in defense of Scott Olsen and in memory of Oscar Grant," Angela Davis, a radical leader prominent in the 1960s and '70s, said at a rally on Wednesday.
Grant, 22, was shot to death on an Oakland train platform on New Year's Day in 2009 by a policeman who said he mistakenly drew his gun instead of his Taser weapon during a scuffle.
Elsewhere, New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg told Wall Steet protesters he would take action if circumstances warranted, saying that the encampments and demonstrations were "really hurting small businesses and families."
(Additional reporting by Dan Whitcomb, Noel Randewich and Mary Slosson; Writing by Dan Whitcomb; Editing by Jerry Norton and Cynthia Johnston)
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