VIDEO: Thousands Occupy Oakland, shutting down port

Story from The Takeaway. Listen to the above audio for a complete report.

Thousands of protesters have congregated on Oakland, Calif., as part of the Occupy Oakland protest and shutdown the city’s port operations, the New York Times reported.

Shortly before 8 p.m. in Oakland, two protesters was shown on video being struck by a vehicle. Emergency officials were on the scene, tending to the injured. Their injuries were not life-threatening.

Media in San Francisco have reported as many as 10,000 people turned out for this “general strike,” but so far police have been relatively absent in the wake of the violent conflict between police and protesters about a week ago.

Oakland government faced intense criticism in the wake of that incident.

According to the San Francisco Chronicle, buses were chartered to take protesters from the downtown area to the port. In the wake of the shutdown, the port officials asked the protesters to allow employees to leave and return to their home without incident.

“Please, allow your fellow 99 percent to get home safely to their families,” said port Executive Director Omar Benjamin in the Chronicle.

Protests began as early as 9 this morning and continued throughout the day. So far, the demonstrations have been peaceful but some vandalism has been reported.

As of 8 p.m. Oakland time, reports began to circulate of police massing near the protesters, but so far there had been no confrontation.