Anti-Wall Street protests intensify

Protesters at the Port of Oakland in California, Wednesday, November 2, 2011

Source: Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/208338.html

Anti-corporatism protests have intensified in the city of Oakland despite increasing crackdowns by police forces who have arrested over 80 demonstrators.

The clashes have left at least six activists injured, when California police used tear gas and flash-bang grenades in order to force protesters out of a vacant building. At least three police officers were among the injured.

The violence comes one day after thousands of protesters occupied downtown Oakland in a general strike against the current economic conditions of the US, as well as police brutality.

Earlier, the Port of Oakland, the fifth busiest of US ports, was officially closed after workers staged a walkout.

Oakland protests are being held in support of the nationwide 'Occupy Wall Street' movement, which evolved in New York on September 17 in protest at 'corporate greed' and high-level corruption.

The rallies gained momentum in Oakland after security forces hit Scott Olsen, a former US Marine and an Iraq war veteran, with a tear gas canister, giving him a fractured skull and causing him to be hospitalized.

The movement has now spread to major US cities in spite of mass arrests by the police as well as other countries, including Australia, Britain, Germany, Italy, Spain, Ireland, and Portugal.