Workers’ Anti-war Movement in the USA
Oakland, USA, 6 April: Oakland police brandishing
“non-lethal” artillery attacked anti-war demonstrations this morning
at the dockyards in West Oakland. The demonstrators arrived around 7am, where
their picket line was successful in provoking the ILWU to send some of its workers
home for the day... and then...
After approximately 30 minutes, the Oakland Police Department moved in to disperse
the demonstrators, attacking them with wooden bullets, teargas, concussion grenades,
and beanbags full of metal shot. Several people, including six onlooking dock
workers suffered injuries. Some demonstrators apparently tried to block highway
entrances before regrouping at the West Oakland BART station and marching downtown
to surround Oakland Federal Building. Dockworkers shut down the Oakland docks
after Oakland police fired at them and anti-war protesters. “This government
understands that if it allows freedom of speech and assembly, there will be
a tidal wave of opposition to this illegal war and this illegitimate war state.
Wooden bullets can make us retreat, but we’ll never give up”, one
protestor said.