Police estimated that a crowd of about 3,000 had gathered at the Port of Oakland by early evening. Some had marched from the California city's downtown, while others had been bused to the port.
Port spokesman Isaac Kos-Read said maritime operations had effectively been shut down. Interim Oakland police chief Howard Jordan warned that protesters who went inside the port's gates would be committing a federal offense.
In New York, Los Angeles and other cities where the movement against economic inequality has spread, demonstrators planned rallies in solidarity with the Oakland protesters, who called for Wednesday's "general strike" after an Iraq War veteran was injured in clashes with police last week.
Organizers of the march said they want to stop the "flow of capital." The port sends goods primarily to Asia, including wine as well as rice, fruits and nuts, and handles imported electronics, apparel and manufacturing equipment, mostly from Asia, as well as cars and parts from Toyota, Honda, Nissan and Hyundai.
The protesters spilled into the Oakland streets Wednesday morning, and the participants, officials and business leaders were optimistic the strike would be peaceful. At a briefing, officials described the protests as orderly and said no arrests had been made.
Craig Merrilees, spokesman for the International Longshore and Warehouse Union, said its members were not being called to strike but they supported the protesters.
The members "are supporting the concerns raised by Occupy Oakland and the Occupy movement to speak up for the 99 percent and against the corporate greed that is wrecking America," Merrilees said.
In other cities, demonstrators targeted symbols of big business.
Nine protesters in Philadelphia were arrested as they held a sit-in at the headquarters of cable giant Comcast. About 100 military veterans marched in uniform in New York, angry at their dim job prospects. And parents and their kids, some in strollers, formed a "children's brigade" to join the Oakland rallies.
"There's absolutely something wrong with the system," said Jessica Medina, a single mother. "We need to change that."
In New York, the military veterans stopped in front of the New York Stock Exchange, standing in loose formation as police officers on scooters separated them from the entrance. On the other side was a lineup of police horses carrying officers with nightsticks.
"Wall Street corporations have played a big role in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan," said Jerry Bordeleau, a former Army specialist who served in Iraq through 2009 and is now a college student. He said private contractors have reaped big profits in those countries.
Port spokesman Isaac Kos-Read said, however, that some activity may continue at the port, which was typically slower in the evening than during the day.
Protesters, who streamed across a freeway overpass to gather in front of the port gates, stood atop tractor-trailers stopped in the middle of the street.
Others climbed onto scaffolding over railroad tracks as a band played a version of the Led Zeppelin song "Whole Lotta Love," using amplifiers powered by stationary bike generators.
The anti-Wall Street activists, who complain bitterly about a financial system they believe benefits mainly corporations and the wealthy, had aimed to disrupt commerce with a special focus on banks and other symbols of corporate America.
Other than the port and several downtown Oakland bank branches and stores that closed, schools and most businesses remained open and commerce largely carried on as usual.
"A lot of the small businesses actually have closed," protest organizer Cat Brooks said, describing her view of a response to a call for a general strike.
The demonstrations centered at Frank Ogawa Plaza adjacent to city hall, scene of a tug-of-war last week between police who cleared an Occupy Oakland encampment there and protesters who sought to return, and ultimately succeeded in doing so.
Protesters also blocked the downtown intersection of 14th street and Broadway, where ex-Marine Scott Olsen was wounded during a clash with police on the night of October 25.
Windows were smashed at several Oakland banks and a Whole Foods market, with pictures of the damage posted on Twitter.
'ANARCHISTS' BLAMED FOR VANDALISM
Acting Oakland Police Chief Howard Jordan said a group of 60 to 70 people he described as anarchists were responsible for the damage while the bulk of the protesters, a crowd he estimated at 4,500 people, had remained peaceful.
Few uniformed police officers were spotted at the rallies, but Jordan said that demonstrators would not be allowed to march beyond the gates of the port.
Local labor leaders, while generally sympathetic to the protesters, said their contracts prohibited them from proclaiming an official strike. Craig Merrilees, a spokesman for the International Longshore and Warehouse Union, said about 40 of 325 unionized port workers had stayed off the job.
"There was no call for a strike by the union," he said.
Port employees were sent home at 3:30 p.m., the port spokesman Kos-Read said, ahead of the planned port march.
Oakland Unified School District spokesman Troy Flint said more than 300 teachers stayed home, most of those having made formal requests the night before.
"We did have to scramble a little bit to cover the extra absences," Flint said, adding that some classes were combined but that no students were left unsupervised.
He said some students also missed school for the protests but "we haven't heard of major absences beyond the norm."
Other residents like Rebecca Leung, 33, who works at an architectural lighting sales company, went about their ordinary activities. Leung said she generally supported the protests.
"I don't really feel striking is necessary. I work for a small company, I don't work for Bank of America," she said.
The owner of a flower shop near the plaza, meanwhile, said that the weeks of noisy rallies and ongoing encampment had only served to hurt his small business.
"Business has not been the same. Everything has gone downhill around here, the noise, the ambience and the customers," the man, who identified himself as Usoro, told Reuters. "I can't afford to close down."
It was the wounding of Olsen, a former Marine turned peace activist who suffered a serious head injury during protests last week, that seemed to galvanize protesters and broadened their complaints to include police brutality.
He remains in an Oakland hospital in fair condition.
Protest organizers say Olsen, 24, was struck by a tear gas canister fired by police. Acting Police Chief Jordan opened an investigation into the incident but has not said how he believes Olsen was wounded.
Elsewhere, New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg told Wall Steet protesters he would take action if circumstances warranted, saying that the encampments and demonstrations were "really hurting small businesses and families."
In downtown Seattle, about 300 rain-soaked protesters blocked the street outside the Sheraton hotel where Jamie Dimon, chief executive of the biggest U.S. bank, JPMorgan Chase & Co, was scheduled to speak at an event organized by the University of Washington's school of business.
Earlier in the day, five protesters were arrested for trespassing after chaining themselves to fixtures inside a Chase bank branch, the Seattle Police Department said.
In Los Angeles, several hundred protesters marched through downtown in solidarity with their counterparts in Oakland.
In Virginia, protesters sought alarm whistles at their encampment in a public park in Charlottesville because women were concerned about their safety overnight.
All about: Occupy Wall Street, Oakland, Los Angele, Port of Long Beach, Port of Los Angeles, Oakland City Hall, Occupy Oakland, Jean Quan
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