Oakland Occupiers Set for General Strike

The U.S.' first general strike since 1946 will include a march on Wells Fargo before heading to the Port of Oakland.

In one of the boldest moves of the Occupy protests so far, activists in Oakland are to launch a one-day general strike today throughout the California city. The general strike will be the first in the United States since the Oakland General Strike of 1946. The Occupy organizers say they have hundreds of teachers, city workers, students, and other union members who have taken the day off work to march on Wells Fargo Bank and then the city's port. The protesters hope to shut down the Port of Oakland for the evening shift as a show of solidarity with longshoremen in Washington who are currently in a labour dispute with grain exporter EGT. While the marches are ostensibly a demonstration against corporate influence in government and income inequality, they will also protest the Oakland police's often heavy-handed tactics. Oakland has been the scene of the most violent clashes between police and Occupy protesters, with police firing a projectile into the face of Scott Olsen, a veteran who served two tours of duty in Iraq but is now in a medically induced coma.