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On the first anniversary of the bloody waterfront confrontation between Oakland Police and antiwar protesters, officers did their best to stay out of the way of several hundred anti-war protesters—including a large group from Berkeley—who demonstrated Wednesday along the docks of the Port of Oakland. 

During last year’s demonstration, called to protest the invasion of Iraq, members of the Oakland Police opened fire on demonstrators with supposedly “less-than-lethal” weaponry. Several protesters came away with serious injuries.  

A report issued last week by Hina Jilani, a Pakistani human rights lawyer who serves as U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan’s Special Representative, suggested that Oakland police used excessive force against protesters. The document was then referred to the U.N. Human Rights Commission.  

Wednesday’s protest was noticeably peaceful. Demonstrators say they had no intent to shut down the port again. Unlike last year’s early morning action, they said they purposely arrived in the afternoon after most of the truck traffic had already left. The few trucks that remained on the docks were escorted out by police.  

But according to Jack Heyman, a business agent for the International Longshoremen and Warehouse workers union (ILWU) Local 10—whose was among the protesters assaulted last year—the protest halted all ship traffic from the Stevedoring Services of America (SSA) and American President Line (APL) ports Wednesday. 

Jackie Thomason of People United for a Better Oakland (PUEBLO) said, “We have an obligation to go back. Of course because of the Iraq war, those issues have not gone away, but we also have to speak about the larger issue of war at home.” 

This week’s protest targeted both the Oakland Police Department as well as several of companies doing business at the Oakland port, including SSA and APL, which organizers claim are guilty of war profiteering. According to Direct Action to Stop the War (DASW), one of the sponsors of Wednesday’s action, SSA received a $14. 3 million no-bid contract to run the port of Umm Qasr in Iraq. DASW organizers also accused SSA of union busting at home and abroad. 

OPD Public Information Officer Danielle Ashford said the department made several changes to their demonstration control procedures after last year’s protest, including an end to the use of wooden dowels—projectiles fired at protesters that leave large welts—and the use of motorcycles to corral the crowd. 

Ashford said OPD officials have also limited the use of bean bag guns and are requiring officers to wear their badge numbers on their riot helmets. Clearly identified and trained liaisons will communicate any orders for crowd dispersal.  

Willow Rosenthal and Lindsay Parkinson, both injured during last year’s protest, carried signs with photos of their scars and bruises during Wednesday’s demonstration. Rosenthal has undergone two surgeries including a skin graft on her calf, where she was hit either with a wooden dowel or bean bag, she says she still suffers from pain in her knee, hip and ankle. 

“We’re here to show that we’re not scared of the police,” said Parkinson. “We need to reclaim the streets.” 

Several people who had been recent victims of what they claim is police brutality spoke at a smaller rally at the police department before the march to the docks. 

According to organizers from Direct Action to Stop the War (DASW), one of the groups who sponsored last year’s protest, an initial push for an independent investigation into the OPD’s reaction never materialized. The Oakland City Council created a commission to investigate the police action, which was later aborted. 

Other fallout from last year’s protest includes the cases of 24 demonstrators who still face criminal charges, including creating a public nuisance, failure to disperse and interfering with a business. They are scheduled to appear in court again April 22. 

A total of 46 protesters from last year’s port demonstration, including several of those who face charges, have filed a civil suit demanding damages and a court decision mandating changes in the way OPD deals with protesters. 

“It’s important. This was perhaps the most violent attack towards any anti-war protesters in any protest leading up to the war,” said Berkeley’s Osha Neumann, one of the lawyers who filed the civil suit. “It’s really critical that the message be sent by the courts that this is not acceptable, that this is a violation of the Constitution. We want them to change explicit policies that will assure that they never again shoot less-than-lethal weapons at peaceful non-violent protesters.”