Estimated 1,000 join Occupy Oakland march

OAKLAND, Calif., Nov. 2 (UPI) -- Oakland police said they were maintaining a low profile Wednesday as several hundred protesters took part in a march organized by the Occupy Oakland movement.

The San Francisco Chronicle unofficially estimated about 1,000 people were taking part in what was labeled a general strike and noted a lack of uniformed officers in the area.

"We anticipate that the protests and demonstrations associated with the 'general strike' will be peaceful and do not anticipate the need will arise for enforcement actions to occur," the city said in a written statement, adding police were prepared to step in to prevent vandalism or any other threats to public safety.

The newspaper said several businesses along the parade route, including bank branches, were closed and about 13 percent of the city's public school teachers had arranged to take the day off to take part in the march. Twelve percent of the union longshoremen at the Port of Oakland also failed to report for work although the docks were operating normally.

Mayor Jean Quan issued a statement Wednesday urging the demonstrators not to interfere with people who chose to show up at work.

"We must make sure that those who have to go to work and keep their businesses open are able to do so," she said.

Wednesday's march was called in the wake of an Oct. 25 police operation to oust Occupy demonstrators from their camp near City Hall. The resulting melee left an Iraq war veteran seriously injured and dozens of people under arrest.

The Oakland police officers' union sent Quan a letter questioning why she ordered the area cleared and then the next day "allowed protesters back in -- to camp out at the very place they were evacuated from the day before."

Meanwhile, police pepper-sprayed nine Occupy protesters in Tulsa, Okla., Wednesday and arrested 10 people at the H.A. Chapman Centennial Green, where a protest camp was established Friday. Those arrested were charged with violating the park's 11 p.m. curfew, and five of them were charged with resisting arrest.