Occupy movement protesters encountered police lines, heavy rains and cold temperatures at the Port of Long Beach, Calif. Monday, in a coordinated effort to halt intermodal commerce along the western seaboard of North America.
According to Occupy Los Angeles organizers, Nathan Sierdsma of Occupy Riverside and Kwazi Nkruhmah, 57, from Occupy the Hood in Los Angeles, were arrested by Long Beach police officers carrying batons and wearing face shields during the protest.
Protesters surrounded and blocked the police car in which Nkrumah was being held, chanting "Let him go," according to witness Ester Kim, a 31-year-old English literature major studying at Los Angeles City College. Kim provided footage of the protest from her Blackberry.
Long Beach Police Department Deputy Chief Laura Farinella said in a telephone interview that numerous orders to disperse were given to the crowd in English and Spanish. Farinella, who heads the department's Support Bureau, which oversees Long Beach's port, airport and police communications network, confirmed the arrests of two men at the port.
Farinella said, "We give people ample time to make the right decision."
Protesters arrived before dawn and participated in a rally at Harry Bridges Memorial Park at 5 a.m.
Protesters then walked towards Pier J, in the southeast corner of the port and closed off access to a parking lot where terminal workers were trying to get to work, Farinella said. Police then pushed the crowd to a location where protests could continue, she said.
University of Southern California graduate student Vanessa Carlisle, 32, said, "We reached the edge of the port at 6:30 a.m. We were declared an unlawful assembly around 8 a.m. Police formed a line, and we formed a line."
Carlisle, who moderates General Assembly meetings for Occupy Los Angeles, explained the immensity of the task laid before the protesters.
"We have a geographic disadvantage at the port. Oakland has one chokepoint. If they get enough bodies, they can stop it," she said, comparing the events in Long Beach to those in Oakland, California. "The Long Beach port is this huge, sprawling, massive area. We can't take strategic action that easily."
According to the Port of Long Beach website, the port is comprised of 3,200 acres of land, 10 piers and 80 berths. It handled 76.6 million metric tons of cargo in 2010. The port is also the second busiest in the United States, accounting for nearly one in five loaded containers that move through the U.S.
A 32-year-old protester who identified himself only as AJ said, "That protest needed to be Oakland-size. They outnumbered us three to one."
Farinella estimated the crowd at 250-300 people.
"I was was expecting more folks to come out," said David Paz, 29. Paz, a resident of Compton, California, said the rain and chilly weather scared off a lot of potential supporters.
Despite the setbacks, Paz said the action was a success for the movement. "We accomplished what we went there to accomplish," he said.
Farinella too, called the day a "successful operation, as it did not shut down the port."
Farinella said the Long Beach police acted in concert with other agencies, including the Los Angeles Port Police, U.S. Coast Guard and the Los Angeles Police Department.
"We're still a young movement," Paz said. "You have to go hard or go home, especially when you're trying to prove a point."
Alex Campbell is a student at Long Beach City College and a reporter for the Viking student newspaper. This is his first piece for Off the Bus. If you would like to contribute as a citizen journalist to The Huffington Post's coverage of the 2012 elections and American political life, please contact us at www.offthebus.org.