HORSES AT OCCUPY HOUSTON:
Live Video streaming by Ustream
BREAKING: LABOUR GROUPS WITHIN THE PORTS SUPPORT THE SHUTDOWN
A collective organization formed by truckdrivers has OFFICIALLY STATED that they support the port shutdown, and claim that the teamsters "have our back." This organization is a proto-union, as it is currently illegal for them to form a union.
All day, truckers have been honking their support for the protesters.
We got bombed with a stack of stories from the corporate media in the early morning with one message "Unions oppose this action." That information is wrong.
At the time of writing, I am getting conflicting reports. Some say that the Unions DO support this shut down, or at least factions within them.
Also at the time of writing, the GlobalRevolution livestreamer with Occupy Wall St has been arrested. HankNYNY is inbound to bring you the updates from the NYC action against Goldman Sachs.
This is a ton of action, very early in the day. We weren't expecting arrests so soon, especially not arrests of independent journalists like our livestreamers.
There is more than one port being targeted. Every Port in the US and Canada on the pacific coast has someone marching on it today, as well as the port of Houston.
There is a ton of video out there. I'll be doing what I can to Aggregate the live streams here. When I'm done, you'll have a wall of video streams, or links to them if I can't embed them. There's quite a bit of information to dig through early this morning, and I'll be sorting through the garbage our corporate media has dumped on us this morning to bring you the facts.
Jesse LaGreca, our own Ministry of Truth and the New York City 99 are going after Goldman Sachs right now, and other occupations are targeting Walmart.
This, right here, is all I'll be doing, all day. Expect tons of video, pictures, and text updates right here at DailyKos.
The first stream we're bringing you is our own. Tim Pool is live in Long Beach, California. Please, stay with us.
Update 10:46
This is one of the better west coast streams, he's in Oakland right now, doing interviews.
Occupy Portland's Official Livestream H/t to BOHICA
NYC Official Livestream:
7:52 AM PT: They have arrested THREE cameramen already!
Lorenzo, GlobalRev Livestreamer
Jeff Smith, @dontbeaputz, OWS Press Team
One independent journalist whose name we don't know. Pictures incoming.
7:59 AM PT: Here's the third cameraman in NYC being arrested. His twitter handle is #Johnknefel
8:04 AM PT: I can confirm that there are a ton of Unions WITH the marchers today.
8:05 AM PT: Tweeted by the OWS Media team:
@OWS_Live #OccupyWallStreet Police took livestreaming equipment. We are asking for it back on livestream and being refused. (livestream.com/owsnyc) #OWS #Dec12 #D12
The NYPD is strangling any media presence.
Again.
8:15 AM PT: I can CONFIRM that terminals 5 and 6 are effectively shut down.
Check the comments of this diary for updates as well. I always verify things before I post them but there are a lot of Kossacks swarming the internet right now, bringing us information on what's going on.
One of the things we're worried about is Black Block "anarchists." Unlike the good and decent anarchists we know who read Chomsky and agitate for political change, these black flag waving thugs show up to smash things and attack the police.
Last time, they smashed some bank windows, and protesters tackled them, and then linked arms, preventing them from attacking the buildings.
"We can bring down this bank without smashing its windows." "It's occupy, not destroy!" "We want to OWN this, not burn it down."
We're watching police approaching the crowd shutting down the longbeach port with less lethal weapons.
8:24 AM PT: H/t to jpmassar for posting the tweet with this link.
We're seeing quite a bit of action across the country.
8:27 AM PT: UPDATE: LONG BEACH
Police HAVE ANNOUNCED that they will disperse crowd by force. I'm hearing that they have dogs. I cannot confirm.
8:30 AM PT: POLICE ARE ANNOUNCING THAT THEY WILL USE DOGS ON THE PROTESTERS IN LONG BEACH.
They specifically warned that they may be bitten by a police dog. WATCH TIM POOLS STREAM.
What we can see there, for those who cannot watch the video, is a sea of riot police in black, many of them holding day glo orange shotguns. They're making an order to disperse, announcing that this is an unlawful assembly.
The people who do not disperse "may be subject" to "chemical agents, impact weapons, or bites from a police dog."
That's a direct quote from the Long Beach Police.
8:36 AM PT: Tim pool flashed his press pass, and was told by the police that since he was not "verified press" if he did not leave, he would be arrested.
8:44 AM PT: HankNYNY has been prevented from entering a public building:
@TheOther99 UPDATE: A Mulligan Security officer just called for NYPD, called me a "psycho." Refuses to let me in. Calls for back up.
Press is not welcome anywhere right now.
8:55 AM PT: After a tense standoff with police, the police were pulled back. By this time in longbeach, the only people blocking the streets were police.
The police just shook hands with protesters, thanking them for not doing anything unlawful, and retreated. Looks like things are dying down.
9:00 AM PT:
@johnknefel FWIW, 8 of 10 in paddywagon w me had cameras iPhones or livestream. Lots of eyes arrested.
9:05 AM PT: See Above, the last video stream is the official NYC livestream.
They're currently streaming live from the back of an NYPD Party Wagon.
9:13 AM PT: So Brookfield's Winter Garden was occupied about 30 minutes ago.
9:17 AM PT: Occupy Houston SWAT van is circling the Occupy Houston encampment.
9:23 AM PT: @AnonymousPress reports that five members of their media team have been arrested so far.
9:23 AM PT: I am STILL trying to verify that Union story. There are a ton of rumors in both directions, and I can't verify any information just yet.
9:28 AM PT: Tim Pool: It is raining, I am soaking wet.
I thought it wasn't supposed to rain in California.
An update from Portland:
OCCUPY OREGON
"Black bloc" hit a truck with a flag staff. Occupiers stopped him. People blocked truck because he was running over an elderly woman.
9:33 AM PT: A lot of people are tweeting this story:
OccupyBayStreet OccupyBayStreet
WTF?! @AnonyOps #Oakland cop just told a girl that "she would be surprised how fast she would move with a 15" police baton up her ass"
9:57 AM PT: Wow. The Media, which I've always accused of being sensational, DOES NOT MENTION what they hear from the police.
http://www.ktla.com/...
This man reporting HEARD the police threaten protesters with dogs, teargas, and "impact weapons," but did not mention it in his report.
Occupy LA Claims the arrested protester is named Nathan, and that he was being kicked. I have no reason not to believe them, but that's not clear from this angle.
He looks like he's wearing a military uniform.
9:57 AM PT: Most of the protesters are regrouping right now.
10:15 AM PT: We're getting a report that longshoremen have been sent home for the day. Waiting for official verification.
10:16 AM PT: Local media is confirming: Longshoremen have been sent home. The port of Oakland is shut down.
10:19 AM PT: This is what one of the pickets at Oakland looked like:
10:20 AM PT: The arrested man at Long Beach:
10:25 AM PT: Most of the occupiers are declaring victory and heading back to Oscar Grant Plaza.
There's a chance that, since they're leaving, the longshoremen might just go back to work.
10:26 AM PT: This is the only stream still up in Oakland:
Streaming Live by Ustream
10:36 AM PT: Truck Drivers From the Ports have officially THANKED the protesters for shutting down the ports.
10:36 AM PT: Link: http://cleanandsafeports.org/...
11:04 AM PT: I have a story up on those drivers:
http://www.dailykos.com/...
It was important enough to merit its own diary.
11:30 AM PT: People are still regrouping across the country. There's a lot of repositioning and reorganizing going on.
But any minute now, any one of the occupations active today could begin a march on a target of opportunity.
I haven't heard much about the groups occupying walmarts.
11:54 AM PT: 11:45 AM PT: Horses at OccupyHOuston as they attempt to shutdown the houston port.
Live Video streaming by Ustream
11:50 AM PT: THE PORT OF HOUSTON IS BLOCKED.
11:50 AM PT: For those of you without video, I'm looking UNDERNEATH a horse, and can see protesters lying in the street.
11:52 AM PT: Police order protesters to disperse. "Your order is unlawful, our protest is lawful" was chanted in response.
11:57 AM PT: Five protesters are lying in the road in houston, blocking a truckway.
12:03 PM PT: There are now six protesters in the streets. Many other occupations are still regrouping. We're getting unconfirmed reports that longshoremen in portland were sent home with pay.
12:04 PM PT: They voted at terminal five in portland NOT to allow any more trucks through. They are allowing anyone on foot to pass.
12:07 PM PT: I can see in Houston, Houston PD are covering their names and badge numbers with duct tape.
1:12 PM PT: The protesters in the street were arrested. "Korgasm" noted that the Media arrived afterwards. They're going to try to march on the precinct where the arrested protesters are being held.
As she walked away, she said "We're not the mainstream media, we're the ustream media."
1:51 PM PT: Police covered protesters with a "Fire Simulation Tent" to hide their actions from the cameras.
Video streaming by Ustream
At first it looked like they were gassing protesters. At this point, we don't think they were, and neither did the videographer, who recorded a pressure gauge on the side of the tent.
The people setting it up were fire fighters. It's an inflatable fire simulation tent:
http://www.mfc-survival.net/...
2:23 PM PT: SOLIDARITY FOREVER!
Local ILWU is showing their support for this buy purchasing Pizza for the protesers!
2:43 PM PT: Kossack Una Spencer suffered a ruptured disc.