Meanwhile, at Whole Foods at 27th and Bay streets, a splinter group wearing all-black and face masks threw paint balls, left graffiti, tore up a fence and broke a window before the larger crowd turned on them and forced them to stop. There were about 75 people inside the store at the time. No injuries were reported.
Vanloads of officers from the Alameda County Sheriff’s Department and unmarked SWAT vans are at the police command center at the Port of Oakland.
Protesters have effectively shut down maritime operations at the port, Director Omar Benjamin said Wednesday, as more than 4,500 people arrived at the gates.
Earlier, 50 police officers, many in riot gear and armed with tear-gas canisters, formed a line at Maritime and Bataan roads, near the police command center. About a dozen motorcycle officers had formed a second line behind the police, but have now moved.
About a dozen protesters on bicycles were facing off with the officers but are now riding around the streets outside the port. Where they are headed was not immediately known.
The crowd of more than 4,500 arrived at the Port shortly after 5 p.m. and stretched several blocks down Middle Harbor Road leading into the port as they begin their attempt to shut down the port for start of the 7 p.m. night shift.
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