. >> reporter: 8:00 this morning the president of the local chapter of the longshoremen's union told protesters they made their point. >> let's open the port and allow truckers and the other working people to go to work. >> reporter: a short time later the blockade came down as quickly as it had gone up. protesters joined the union president for breakfast and discussed what had been accomplished. one thing for certain, it left with a lasting impression. the port of oakland still dealing with the after affects of questioned's protest. they are slowly getting back to normal. terry mcsweeney, abc7 news. >>> it remains unclear if a driver will faceç kh@rges after witnesses say he intentionally rammed his car into at least two protester. they within to e hospital after the car hit them -- they went to the hospital after the car hit them last night. bart police handled the initial investigation. officers questioned the driver and then allowed him to leave. you can see in this home video one protester pounded on the hood of the car. it appears the driver gunned the engine and hit the man.

solder >> the president of block will longshoremen union that they would not be participating because they do not have enough time to slip this to evoke. we did reach out to the port but we did not receive a response. haaziq madyun has also been following this story and he has more details about what is happening on wednesday. >>haaziq: the occupy oakland general strike will begin at 9:00 a.m. in downtown oakland at the corner of 14th and broadway. according to the occupy oakland web sites, banks and court races should set down--the banks and corporations should shut down or they will seek protesters. they say that mom and pop businesses should not worry. >> we know you have to take care of your families. this is not for you guys. this is for the banks in the big corporations. take a day off. >>haaziq: there'll be another rally at noon, another in the evening followed by a march to the court. the city of oakland will be open for business during wednesday's general strike and city leaders are not urging businesses to close the doors. instead, the city of oakland is advising shop owners

. >> reporter: 8:00 this morning the president of the local chapter of the longshoremen's union told protesters they made their point. >> let's open the port and allow truckers and the other working people to go to work. >> reporter: a short time later the blockade came down as quickly as it had gone up. protesters joined the union president for breakfast and discussed what had been accomplished. one thing for certain, it left with a lasting impression. the port of oakland still dealing with the after affects of questioned's protest. they are slowly getting back to normal. terry mcsweeney, abc7 news. >>> it remains unclear if a driver will faceç kh@rges after witnesses say he intentionally rammed his car into at least two protester. they within to the hospital after the car hit them -- they went to the hospital after the car hit them last night. bart police handled the initial investigation. officers questioned the driver and then allowed him to leave. you can see in this home video one protester pounded on the hood of the car. it appears the driver gunned the engine and hit the man

we did talk to a longshoremen union representative who says they have workers trying to get in but are unable to. >> they are ordering us to go to work in the foot as in harm's way. we are ready to go to work, we are ready for them to tell us if it is needed or not furious >>craig: they said they are not hearing anything from the port of oakland. at this side of the intersection, one of the protesters got their head injuries when a car kusch its way through. there could be some serious problems potentially, but they are lucky that has not happened at this point. >>mark: the port of oakland is the fifth busiest port in the united states. we will wait to see what happens in the see of business will resume. fifth >>erica: this is a hot topic on our facebook fan page. i asked be worse off if is a general strike was an overall success. we are getting some mixed comments. here is what dallas said. here is what nicole said. those are just some of the comments. if you would like to participate in the discussion, check us out on our facebook fan page. fo an >>justine: , i am keeping my eyes on

after someone from longshoremen's union got involved furious the economic impact of yesterday's action will not be known until sometime next week. maureen kelly spoke to small business owners who depend on business and they say they already know they were hurt by yesterday's protests. >>maureen: this was one of the drivers stuck in his big rig during the port shutdown. today he is one of the independent truckers tried to make up for lost time. >> it costs a lot of money to operate these trucks. it is just another loss. third >>maureen: businesses had to shorten hours or close and could not open until late on thursday because of the small handful of protesters that kept streets closed. >> my business is like most businesses right now. we are still trying to hang in there. having to shut down costs money. >>maureen: base support the general idea, >> i support what the protesters are about, but i have a small business and they cannot afford to be shut down. >> we are a part of the 99%. >>robin: light showers and cooler temperatures through the bay area. this system is bringing us cooler w

after the president from the longshoremen's union got involved.n there has been a steady stream of trucks moving car go in and out of the dock area. a spokesperson says that they're now fully operational and slowly getting back to normal. the city will not know the economic impact of wednesday's action until sometime next week. a >>reporter: ramon anderson was one of the drivers stuck in his big rig during wednesday's court shut down. today he is one of the many independent truckers trying to make up for lost time. >> this is like a today set back because a lot of money to operate these trucks and you know for us it is a another loss. >>reporter: truckdrivers were not the only ones getting squeezed, this a soul food and are right next to the port had to shorten their hours and close on wednesday and the owner could not open up until late thursday afternoon because of the small handful protesters that kept the street closed when the morning shift showed up for work. >> this is a small business in we are our most businesses right now we're trying to

protesters will have to try to shut down the port of oakland without the help of the longshoremen's union. he told me by phone that while they support the 99% movement and denounce police brutality however he said there is just no time to put the matter to a vote for union members. however, that does not mean that the fifth busiest port in the country cannot be shut down without participation. in fact protesters can create an unsafe environment at the port and then president of the union said the daytime they may have to stop working until the conditions return to being safe. >>pam: protesters are employing themselves to keep their encampment say from thieves and from the police. will tran shows us the situation. >>reporter: the tents are back and the place is full, even though the city promised minimal police presence out and i see any police officers around here, i talk with the security at the plaza it is made up a protesters running around and their bicycles as well as doing foot patrol. they tell me they have not seen a police officer around here as well. >> we are trying to make sur

after the president of the longshoremen's union got involved. since then there have been a steady stream of trucks moving cargo in and out of the docks as you can see on the right here the exact impact of wednesday's actions cannot be known until next week. maureen kelly spoke with the small business owners who depend on shore business and a city already know that there were hurt by those protests. >> i was blocked in about three hours. >>reporter: this is one of the drivers stuck during the port shutdown. >> this puts us back another day it cost us a lot of money, it costs a lot of money to operate these trucks and for us it is just another loss. >>reporter: truckdrivers were not the only ones getting squeezed. the soulful restaurant right next to the port had to shorten their hours and close on wednesday and the owner could not open until late thursday afternoon because of the small hand a protesters that kept the streak the her restaurant is on closed when the morning shift show up for work. >> our business is like moses--is like most busines

longshoremen. >> reporter: that union president we just heard from even offered the few protests are who are here to take them out for breakfast as a show of support and solidarity. seems like a lot of them refused because, frankly, they wanted to go home and get some shut eye. it was his impression it would take at least a day if not longer for the port to run through the backup cargo backed up during yesterday's shutdown before they get back up and running to normal. >> a lot to cover for us. thank you bob. >>> oakland city council's rules committee set to meet today and the protests not i an surprise here at the top of that agenda. the special session starts at 30 this evening at oakland's city hall. we'll continue to update you on the occupy movement this evening on nbc bay area "news at 5":00 and 6:00 and all day long online at nbcbayarea.com. >>> our other big story today, house republicans are putting the pressure on the white house over the solyndra controversy. the energy and commerce committee just voted to issue two subpoenas demanding the white house turn over more documents. scott mc

at 9:00 in the morning, a retired dock worker said the members of the international longshoremen's and warehouse union stopped work on their own. >> the trucks with containers are backed up for at least a mile. cargo is not being worked effectively. none of the cranes are moving. members of the union did this on their own. the leaders of the union wanted them to work today, but by and large, they are not working the port. the port is down. they did this on their own. >> reporter: the general strike was supported by some unions, including hundreds of teachers who came out to support the the service employees union, which represents city workers was there as well. dwight mcelroy is president of the oakland chapter. >> we support the core principles and morals of the occupy oakland; the unions are not calling it a strike; but unions all calling it a day of action, and a day to stand in sympathy with the principles and the courage of the occupy oakland people. >> reporter: but at the same time, some union spokesmen said they had contracts with companies that forbade striking. and at least one unionist exp

the shift change was at 7:00 p.m., several hundred longshoremen came here trying to work. the union says they were not able to get in here because the port was shut down. they turned around and left. a lot of the crowd has dissipated and some have moved further into the port. many are situated in front of the other terminals. other protesters are further down in front of those terminals making sure that no trucks leave or command. >>grant: there are protesters blocking all around the port of oakland. just a short distance away, in downtown oakland, people are walking the streets there as well. we just learned that a pedestrian was struck at the intersection of 11th and broadway. we are told a group of protestors was headed down broadway, away from the plaza at the intersection of 11th and the broadway and a pedestrian was struck by a vehicle. we have a video from the scene. there is a fire truck and ambulances. the pedestrian is being attended to by emergency personnel. we are told the driver of the car was frustrated when protesters were blocking the intersection. the driver tried

they are not allowed to unionize so we have had a lot of support from the longshoremen, teamsters, af truckers don't have that option. so yeah, they're pissed. they want get to work and make money. we understand that. >> reporter: the port of oakland is the fifth largest in the nation and it generates about $8 million a day. >>> meanwhile two people are recovering after being hit by a car during the protests in downtown oakland last night. we have some cell phone video that shows a protestor banking on the heed of a silver mercedes in an intersection and then speeded up on broadway and 11th streets, when witnesses say the driver hit a man and a woman. now, our cbs 5 camera was there moments later. and you can see the man on the ground. the mercedes finally did stop because of a crowd, an angry crowd of 100 or so people gathered around it screaming at the driver. they wren raged also at the -- were enraged also at the bart police officers who questioned the driver who then let him go. oakland police are investigating. >>> amid today's chaos, "occupy" protestors are already gearing up

truckers are forced to work as independent contractors not allowed to unionize so we have had a lot of support from the longshoremen, the teamsters, a lot of the truckers don't have that option. they want to get to work. they want to make money. we understand that. >> the "l.a. times" reports the protestors left the entrance this morning when the president of the union invited them out to breakfast for a conversation. >>> two people were hit by a car during last night's protest. cell phone video shows a man banging on the hood of a mercedes at broadway and 11th. the driver tried to escape. he hit two people. bart police questioned the driver and let him go. oakland police are investigating. >>> tonight a new challenge for "occupy oakland" protestors, the weather. some light rain fell on the encampment in oakland this afternoon. showers cold temperatures are in the forecast tonight. tomorrow, it's going to be colder, as well. we'll have to see how the weather impacts the "occupy" movement. >>> one of the most closely watched initial public offerings this year could be pricier than originally thought. groupon said to

the strongest unions we have today are the longshoremen. the: let's go to college on republican line from new jersey -- colleen. caller: hello? good morning. i have two questions. a caller mentioned that a representative who is either sitting in prison or charged with felonies still collects a full-blown pension, and the sapper and had no problem with that. that means a person in new jersey working at mcdonald's is paying for that representative to sit back and collect a pension and you found nothing wrong with that. i'm sure you're fully aware of what new jersey taxpayers pay. we pay an average of $850 to $1,000 per month all because of corzine. do you think that is a sustainable? great.colleen, we admire your county. essex and union, we have seen a lot of growth. you must have misunderstood me. i hope the other listeners -- i did not say i was comfortable with that. i said everybody should have the same right that we have. people should have the right to negotiate their salary and their wages. it is deplorable a person can get a penchant

longshore men, the union that represents a lot of the workers here to actually honor the strike would be illegal so what they are saying now, tonight, is that some of the longshoremen don't want to cross these lines not to be sympathetic with the strike but because they say there are safety issues. so it will be interesting to see if workers actually go into work for the night shift. these folks left frank ogawa plaza around 4:15. they are on the march here. what i want to tell you in terms of this picket line is that whereas -- it's not exactly like one big line that will surround the port. [ loud horns ] >> reporter: the concept is to form a line that is, you know, actually there are people here but it would be sort of an imaginary line that, you know, they are encouraging these union workers not to cross. the port as robert mentioned says that some of their workers were sent home a little early around 3:30 this afternoon. they are urging calm right now. they are saying they want everyone to be calm and to show respect and to focus on everyone's safety. these folks here behind me told me they plan on being peaceful. that's what we have seen for most of the day, a

longshoremen have stopped working ahead of today amarch. it does include a number of 0 -- today's march. it includes a number of union members and teachers and others have indicated they will be joining this. it is supposed to be starting shortly and ending with a rally at the port of oakland. >>> we'll be following this today. and let's quickly go to sal? >> we're just gonna check out the -- check out the toll plaza. traffic will be busy there. give yourself plenty of time to navigate through that. >>> sunshine, mild to warm today. that will be the last time i say "warm" for a while because we have big changes, red flag warnings should end here in a couple of minutes. still high fire danger for another couple of hours. then tomorrow rain moves in tomorrow evening and then turning much colder. >> much colder. >> that's our report for this morning. thank you for trusting ktvu channel 2 news. we'll see you the next time news breaks. >> and we've just heard that 14th and broadway is lessed because of the -- is closed because of the protesters. we'll have coverage through jute the day. thank you for joining us -- through