Today was the general strike in Oakland. There were 4-5000 people downtown when I went to work today. At 4 p.m. they headed for the Port of Oakland to shut it down, and I've seen estimates from 10K to 50K people. (My guess: 15K.) There were a few agitators and some minor vandalism, but the protests have largely been peaceful.

This afternoon I watched amazing live helicopter video of the march from downtown to the port. The sheer volume of people involved brought a tear to my eye-- I'm happy that so many people are taking a stand for what they believe in, even if I don't agree with all of the message.

Nighttime is the potentially-scary time. I hope it stays peaceful and nonviolent.

Here are a few photos that I found.

http://twitpic.com/7a2d7m
http://twitpic.com/7a1h4q
http://imgur.com/DTUxp
http://yfrog.com/hsylztnj
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/45134339/ns/us_news-life/#.TrIAK9QmV8F