Closed captioning of: ‘Occupy’ protests turn ugly in Oakland
>>>
overnight,
oakland
, california came to a standstill as tensions flared up again between police and occupy
wall street
protesters. nbc's miguel almaguer is there. good morning.
>> reporter:
good morning. just a few short hours ago this demonstration took a dramatic turn. police in
riot gear
moved into
downtown oakland
and shot
tear gas
at protesters after they took over an abandoned building and started a large bonfire in the
downtown area
. a number of arrests were made as police continued to have a very large presence in downtown. overnight thousands of occupy protesters shut down the
port of oakland
, entrances blocked, delivery trucks turned away, demonstrators successful in bringing the nation's fifth largest port to a standstill.
>>
enough people came out here and just stopped traffic that the port couldn't operate.
>> reporter:
oakland
's day-long citywide strike wednesday may have been the largest demonstration here since the
vietnam war
. all day an estimated 7,000 poured through
city streets
.
>>
this is the beginnings of a revolution.
>> reporter:
the occupy movement a rally against what protesters call the unequal distribution of wealth and power. teachers marched with nurses.
>>
health care is a right, a human right.
>> reporter:
parents protested with children.
>>
people need a lot more power in our society and the 99% aren't getting the power. the 1% are.
>> reporter:
but this morning
downtown oakland
certainly has a much different look. dozens of protesters remain in this area and they are matched by dozens of
police officers
still in their
riot gear
. natalie?
>>
all right. be watching what happens there today, miguel almaguer in
oakland
, california. thank you.
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