The port in Oakland, Calif. was re-opened Thursday after violent clashes between Occupy Wall Street protesters overnight and into Thursday shut down the facility.
Police in riot gear arrested dozens of demonstrators Thursday who had set a massive bonfire on a downtown street, shattered the windows of businesses and broke into a vacant building.
At least four of the protesters were sent to hospital after the clashes with police, including one who needed stitches. Police said several officers were injured but didn't require hospitalization.
Police said protesters threw chunks of concrete, metal pipes and lit roman candles and Molotov cocktails. Officers in riot gear responded with tear gas.
"We go from having a peaceful movement to now just chaos," protester Monique Agnew, 40, said early Thursday.
Up until now, the Occupy movement's tactics have largely included marches and peaceful occupations and encampments of parks and churchyards.
But on Wednesday and into Thursday tensions between police and demonstrators in Oakland sharply escalated.
On Wednesday at dusk, an estimated crowd of 3,000 people gathered at the Port of Oakland, capping off a daylong general strike in the city.
Demonstrations had been largely peaceful throughout the day. But as darkness fell demonstrators moved into the port area, blocking exits with chain-link fencing, blocking-in parked vehicles and refusing to allow any trucks in or out of the port.
Port spokesman Isaac Kos-Read said evening operations were "effectively shut down."
Later Wednesday a statement from port officials said operations were cancelled until further notice.
The statement pointed out that the port shutdown would have a direct impact on workers -- not the wealthiest so-called "1 per cent" who have been the focus of many of the protests.
"Our hope is that the work day can resume tomorrow and that port workers will be allowed to get to their jobs without incident," the statement read. "Continued missed shifts represent economic hardship for maritime workers, truckers, and their families, as well as lost jobs and lost tax revenue for our region."
The demonstrations in Oakland prompted solidarity rallies in Los Angeles, New York and other cities.
Last week the Oakland protests became a focal-point for the movement after an Iraq War veteran was hurt in clashes with police attempting to break up the demonstration. Reportedly "flash-bang" grenades were used in that clash, along with tear gas and rubber bullets.
Since then, parents have brought their children to the port to form a "children's brigade" to help shield the protesters.
In downtown New York on Wednesday, military veterans marched to protest the lack of work opportunities for returning soldiers, and to show solidarity with the veteran who was injured in Oakland.
"We are marching to express support for our brother, (Iraq war veteran) Scott Olsen, who was injured in Oakland," said Jerry Bordeleau, a former Army specialist who served in Iraq through 2009.
In Philadelphia, protesters held a sit-in at the headquarters of Comcast, a massive cable company. Nine people were arrested.
In Boston, college students and union workers marched on Bank of America offices, the Harvard Club and the Statehouse to protest the growing student debt crisis.
"There's absolutely something wrong with the system," said Jessica Medina, a single mother who attends school part time and works at an Oakland cafe. "We need to change that."
In Oakland, protesters said their goal was to stop the "flow of capital" into and out of the city.
The port, the fifth busiest in the U.S., ships goods such as rice, fruits and nuts to Asia. It imports mostly Asian goods, including automobiles and electronics.
The Occupy Wall Street movement began on Sept. 17 in Manhattan's Zuccotti Park, with about 100 people marching on Wall Street to protest the gap between the rich and the poor.
Since then protests have taken place in dozens of American cities, in Canada and around the world, with some comparing the movement to the Arab Spring.
The movement began with a call to action by Adbusters, a Vancouver-based anti-corporate magazine that simply urged readers to protest against corporate greed on Wall Street.
The movement has no clear leaders and no clear set of demands or goals.
With files from The Associated Press
