Updated at 03:38 A.M. ET: Protesters across the world marched through the streets Tuesday toting signs, playing instruments and wearing costumes to rally against austerity measures, call for more jobs and seek greater immigrants' rights on May Day.

Marches turned violent in Oakland and San Francisco, where a protester was throwing what appeared to be bricks and metal rods from the roof of a building into the crowd of demonstrators, reporters, and police - injuring at least one person, according to NBC Bay Area.

In Seattle, protesters dressed in black smashed windows and police pepper-sprayed some in the crowds. 

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In the United States, the protests are seen as the biggest test for the Occupy movement since many of its camps were shuttered late last year. Occupiers in more than 100 cities across the country were expected to protest on the day that traditionally celebrates workers’ rights.

In New York, demonstrators held a “free university,” and a “guitarmy” led a march.

“It was a long, energetic day with scores and scores of events and protests that is another step in building a movement for economic justice,” said Bill Dobbs of the Occupy Wall Street public relations team. “Occupy has re-blossomed in over 100 cities."

Occupy Cleveland cancels protest, distances itself from alleged bomb plot

Earlier Tuesday, about 1,000 Occupy protesters gathered in New York's Bryant Park, home to the main city library, with hundreds assembling the “guitarmy” and making posters before they left to march downtown. Chanting "Out of the stores, into the streets" and "Banks got bailed out; we got sold out," they filed down Manhattan’s iconic Fifth Avenue.

“There's too much fear for the general public to actually want to strike. They don’t want to lose their job. ... We haven’t reached that tipping point where people are more frightened for some place to live," said Robby McGeddon, 47, a tech worker carrying a maypole for May Day. "It will get to the tipping point but right now we're just practicing."

Of the protest, Daphne Carr, 33, co-organizer of the Occupy Music Working Group, said: “We're trying to find new, positive community-building ways to engage and protest and be a part of the burgeoning civil dialogue about what this country should be doing."

She also noted that music making "has been eroded from our public sphere so we're taking and re-claiming the right to play music publicly together in the streets, in the parks, without permits.”

The crowd swelled to a few thousand later in the day in Union Square as immigrant rights groups and unions representing teachers, transport workers, nurses, musicians as wells as others joined in a lively afternoon of art and music.

But the day was not without its detractors: at least one man heckled protesters and another yelled “Get a job!” as he elbowed his way through the crowd.

That didn’t get the protesters’ spirits down.

"This is like the resurgence of the Occupy Wall Street movement," said photographer Joel Simpson, 65, of Union, N.J., as the "guitarmy" sang "This land is your land" nearby. Though most of New York City didn't know the May Day protest was going on, he said, the movement "touches public consciousness in a very broad way and politicians have to at least pay lip service to it."

The New York protesters then streamed downtown, in an early evening march heading past the former Occupy Wall Street home, Zuccotti Park, to Bowling Green park near the southern tip of Manhattan. Occupy sent out a text message saying 30,000 people were in the streets, though it was not possible to determine how many were and police do not give crowd estimates. At one point, the protest appeared to stretch about 15 city blocks.

“We’re not so fragile that a day is going to make or break things but this was you know, a great … step,” Dobbs said, noting that the “organizing that goes on day-to-day and week-to-week is just as important in building a long-term sustainable movement.”

New York police reported 15 arrests by late afternoon for disorderly conduct and resisting arrest, the New York Daily News reported. Several demonstrators were caught carrying hammers but there was little vandalism, police said. Later Tuesday, Occupy said more arrests had been made.

Elsewhere:

San Francisco: Police armed with non-lethal pellet or bean bag guns aimed them at a protester who was throwing objects from the roof of the building,  located at 888 Turk St, according to NBC Bay Area. The protester, dressed in black with a handkerchief covering his  face, was throwing what appeared to be bricks and metal rods into the crowd  of demonstrators, reporters, and police. Police spokesman Sgt. Michael Andraychak told NBC News the individual threw several items off the roof for several minutes, including two bricks and pipes. One brick struck a person and hit them in the head. The injured person refused treatment from medical personnel. NBC News reported that the rooftop protester was arrested and taken into custody.

Oakland, Calif.: Protesters playing cat-and-mouse with police pounded on windows of banks and other businesses, SFGate.com reported. After surrounding a downtown Bank of America branch, protesters chanted, "Oakland is the people's town; strike, occupy, shut it down." they also gathered at a Wells Fargo bank branch. Police later confronted demonstrators marching through downtown. Video by NBCBayArea.com showed at least one protester being dragged away by police. Protesters hurled items including a paint bomb at police and windows out of a police van, NBCBayArea.com reported. Police fired tear gas and flash-bang grenades before the skirmishing crowd dispersed. Police arrested at least four people. 

Seattle: Windows were broken and police arrested a handful of protesters as about 100 marched in downtown, NBC station KING reported. Many marchers were dressed in dark clothes, wearing face makeup and carrying sticks, live TV video showed. Police pepper-sprayed several protesters as problems developed. KING reported numerous tires slashed and large amounts of glass on the ground from vehicles and buildings, including the federal courthouse, smashed by protesters. Peaceful protesters remained at the downtown Westlake Plaza, where speeches and concerts continued, KING reported.

"Part of me, I want to understand where they're coming from and then they pull something like this," said Sam, who would not give his last name, as he saw the back window of his car smashed out by protesters. Sam was on holiday from his home in British Columbia. "I'm from Canada," he said, "imagine the impression this gives me of the United States."

At an afternoon press conference, Mayor Mike McGinn said a group known as the “Black Block” did extensive damage to the Federal Courthouse, then moved on to block traffic. The mayor signed a proclamation authorizing police to seize from protesters any items that could be used as weapons, KING reported. Evening marches and protests were planned.

Photoblog: May Day protests turn violent in Seattle

San Francisco: Golden Gate ferry workers picketed ferry terminals in the North Bay, but union organizers canceled a protest on the Golden Gate Bridge to give support to the ferry workers, the Oakland Tribune reported. However, scores of California Highway Patrol officers with helmets and batons lined the bridge and gathered around the toll plaza just in case. Bridge traffic was not disrupted.

Albany, N.Y.: State police arrested two men who set up a table without a permit in Lafayette Park, where Occupy protesters assembled Tuesday, the Times Union newspaper reported.

Chicago: Protesters and union supporters held rallies and marches with little disruption to the business district, the Chicago Tribune reported. Police Superintendent Garry McCarthy told the newspaper there were no arrests among the crowd of 1,000 as rallies wrapped up at Federal Plaza.

Denver: Nearly 200 people marched downtown before turning onto the 16th Street pedestrian mall, blocking mall buses and traffic as they walked. The marchers also stopped in front of the Federal Reserve Bank. Police did not interfere, and only one person reportedly was arrested.

Los Angeles: Several demonstrators were taken into custody during a protest on Century Boulevard near the entrance to Los Angeles International Airport as union members, workers, immigrant-rights activists and others demonstrated for better-paying jobs to changes in immigration laws, NBCLosAngeles.com reported. However, about 2,000 police officers prepared to deploy early at a staging area in Elysian Park before a ralliers were to converge downtown Tuesday evening. Los Angeles County activated its Emergency Operations Center.

Dorian Warren, an assistant professor of political science at Columbia University, said he thought Tuesday would be the “biggest test since the fall of where Occupy is.”

Occupy activists fear becoming Democrats' 'pet'

“I think it’s still alive and thriving. I don’t think it’s going anywhere soon,” he said. “But I think after [Tuesday] we’ll know whether or not they were hibernating all winter and now they’ve re-emerged, or if they’ve died out.”

Occupy held protests during the spring on student debt and worker rights. They also have been working on a rollout of new versions of outreach web sites to facilitate coordination among different Occupy outfits. But a lot of effort has been focused on holding a May Day that will make a splash. 

“Many activists have been working toward May Day for months and so they’ve decided to make it a test of strength,” said Todd Gitlin, a former leader of the 1960s-era group Students for a Democratic Society who has just published a book on Occupy. He added: “A lot of people in the larger society don’t think the movement still exists, so there’s some need to prove to them that it does exist.”

Occupy Wall Street has struggled during the last months without a camp, with some members starting their own groups while keeping a loose affiliation to the movement.

“It’s become fractured over time and I think people point a lot to that to the breakup of Zuccotti Park, and the natural disagreements that people had came more to the fore when people were separated and people formed their own circles upon which they continued. But it wasn’t the circle of great diversity that was right there at Zuccotti Park and people could grow from,” said William Johnsen, a 63-year-old veteran activist from Staten Island, N.Y. “It’s obviously a long-term process right now which will ultimately change into something else.”

But Konrad Cukla, a 23-year-old graduate student who has been helping with Occupy May Day planning, said that since the park shut, occupiers have been engaging in key coalition building work, such as with immigrant rights groups in the city.

“All the labor unions have come together and for the first time are going to have a unified march with immigrant rights groups and Occupy,” he said as he walked with a musical band of occupiers -- the Rude Mechanical Orchestra -- dressed in green and black on Manhattan’s Fifth Avenue. “I think the movement is evolving, it's taking on more concrete allies and issues, engaging more with labor struggles -- also just expanding its horizons and bringing more people into the movement."

The Associated Press and msnbc.com's Jim Gold contributed to this report. Follow Jim Gold at msnbc.com on Facebook here.

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NEW YORK -- Police arrested dozens of Occupy Wall Street protesters on Saturday night during a protest marking the movement's six-month mark at its birthplace in New York's Zuccotti Park.

More than 100 officers pushed through the park crowd. Many protesters shouted and officers took out their batons after a demonstrator threw a glass bottle at a bus that police were using to detain more than a dozen protesters.

At least two people were loaded into ambulances.

The sweep just before midnight capped a day of demonstrations and marching in lower Manhattan. There was no official word on the number of arrests but dozens of people were handcuffed and led out of the park.

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Earlier in the day, 15 people were arrested and three officers suffered injuries, police said.

Protesters reconvened at the park following afternoon marches through New York's financial district. By 11 p.m. roughly 300 had gathered there.

"This is our spring offensive," said Michael Premo, 30, of New York, who identified himself as a spokesman for the movement. "People think the Occupy movement has gone away. It's important for people to see we're back."

Inspired by the pro-democracy Arab Spring, the Wall Street protesters targeted U.S. financial policies they blamed for the yawning income gap between rich and poor in the country, between what they called the 1 percent and the 99 percent. The demonstrators set up camp in Zuccotti Park on September 17 and sparked a wave of protests across the United States.

Shortly after 11:30 p.m., some protesters began to erect tents near the center of the park and police began to move in, according to protester Cari Machet.

"They came in to shut it down," Machet said. "They told us we had to leave because the park was closed."

When about 100 officers entered the park, dozens of protesters sat on the ground and refused orders to leave. They were then carried out in plastic handcuffs and put in police buses and vans.

The park was cleared within 20 minutes, and by midnight no protesters remained in its boundaries.

The New York Times reported that by 12:20 a.m. Sunday, police officers were forcing the remaining protesters south on Broadway, at times swinging batons and shoving people to the ground.

Events got under way near midday on Saturday, with street theater troupes performing and guitar players leading sing-alongs. Some boisterous protesters marched through the streets of the financial district, chanting "bankers are gangsters" and cursing at police.

As they have in past marches, protesters led police on a series of cat-and-mouse chases. Marchers at the front of the crowd would suddenly turn down narrow side streets, startling tourists and forcing police to send officers on motor scooters to contain the crowd.

The movement has made headlines for its clashes with police after campsites were set up for months in cities from New York to California. The camps were eventually shut down by authorities citing zoning regulations and public health concerns.

In New York, the Occupy movement lost significant momentum in November when a pre-dawn sweep broke up the encampment at Zuccotti, although Occupy protests in Oakland, California, in January led to police firing tear gas into crowds of protesters and more than 200 were arrested.

Protester Paul Sylvester, 24, of Massachusetts said he was "thrilled" to be back at the park but said he hoped the movement would begin to crystallize around specific goals.

"We need to be more concrete and specific," he said. Critics say the Occupy movement lacks direction and clear demands.

It continues to draw celebrities, however. On Saturday night, independent filmmaker Michael Moore strode through the park before the police incursion.

"I think it's great that this movement continues to grow," Moore said. "I think the goals are clear. People are concerned that they have no control over their own democracy. They have no control over their own lives.

"This is the beginning. This park is sacred ground for millions across the country."

This article contains reporting from The Associated Press and Reuters.

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Story updated 12:30 p.m. ET:

Oakland officials on Sunday were inspecting damage inside City Hall that was caused by about 50 Occupy protesters who broke in and smashed glass display cases, spray-painted graffiti, and burned the U.S. and California flags.

The break-in on Saturday was the culmination of a day of clashes between protesters and police. At least 300 people were arrested on charges ranging from vandalism and failure to disperse.

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At least three officers and one protester were injured.

Mayor Jean Quan said Occupy protesters have caused an estimated $2 million in damages from vandalism since October. She said the cost to the city related to the Occupy Oakland protests is pegged at about $5 million.

The scene around City Hall was mostly quiet Sunday morning. It was unclear whether protesters would mount another large-scale demonstration later in the day.

Story updated 6:00 a.m. ET:

A U.S. flag was burned by a group of protestors inside City Hall, according to City Council President Larry Reid. City officials also said three police officers and one protester were injured during Saturday's events.

Story updated 3:15 a.m. ET:

Sgt. Christopher Bolton of the Oakland Police Department told msnbc.com that the number arrested was likely between 200 and 300. "We are still processing the arrests," he said. He was speaking after the release of a statement on the Oakland City website that put the number of arrests at 200. "That figure is probably on the low side and we don't have a confirmed total yet," said. Sgt Bolton. In the statement, released in a PDF file format, Oakland Mayor Jean Quan said: "Once again, a violent splinter group of the Occupy Movement is engaging in violent actions against Oakland. The Bay Area Occupy Movement has got to stop using Oakland as their playground." The statement also said there were reports of damage to exhibits inside City Hall during the protest.

Story published 1:30 a.m.:

Police arrested about 300 people Saturday as Occupy Oakland protesters were thwarted trying to take over a vacant convention center and enter a YMCA. Protesters later broke into City Hall, where they burned a flag taken from inside.

Police used tear gas and "flash" grenades in the afternoon against 2,000 protesters who tried to tear down fences around the vacant Henry Kaiser Convention Center, where they hoped to establish a new camp. Police said some demonstrators started throwing objects at officers. There were at least 19 arrests in the afternoon.

After 6 p.m. (9 p.m. ET), police in riot gear declared a group of protesters gathered near the YMCA under mass arrest for failing to disperse, according to local media reports and livestreams. Police said about 100 demonstrators were arrested at the YMCA.

Several protesters at  the YMCA appeared to be put hard to the ground as police moved in and at least one protester had blood on his face.

Protesters chanted, "Let us disperse," but instead were taken one by one for police processing.

Some protesters claimed they were trying to flee police by running through the YMCA rather than take over the building.

Later in the evening, about 100 police officers surrounded City Hall while others swept the inside of the building.

Police arrived after protesters had broken into City Hall, stole an American flag from the council chamber and set it ablaze, the Oakland Tribune reported. Officers stomped out the fire.

Earlier, protesters met at Frank Ogawa Plaza around noon and marched toward the convention center in hopes of making it their new meeting place and social center, NBCBayArea.com reported.

Read NBCBayArea.com coverage of the protest

Oakland officials said about 250 people were in the group when the protest started but the crowd grew to about 2,000.

Earlier during the rally one of the organizers, Shake Anderson, said, "We are here to protect each other and to be civil disobedient. ... We're doing it to change the world, not just today but every day."

The protesters were walking through Laney College around 2:30 p.m. Some people were wearing bandanas over their mouths and others were holding signs saying, "We are the 99%." A marching band dressed in pink and black tutus and neon pick tights also was in the crowd.

Officer Jeff Thomason said police started making arrests when some in the crowd started throwing objects at them during the afternoon rally. Three officers were injured, police said, but did not elaborate.

@OaklandPoliceCA tweeted around 3 p.m., "Area of Oakland Museum and Kaiser Center severely impacted. Persons cutting and tearing fences for entry. Bottles and objects thrown at OPD."

Once they reached the center, organizers planned to kick off a two-day "Oakland Rise-up Festival" to celebrate the establishment of the movement's new space.

Occupy Oakland spokesman Leo Ritz-Bar said the action would signal "a new direction for the Occupy movement: putting vacant buildings at the service of the community."

He also warned that protesters could retaliate against any repressive police action by blocking the Oakland International Airport, occupying City Hall or shutting down the Port of Oakland.

City officials said that while they are "committed to facilitating peaceful forms of expression and free speech, police would be prepared to arrest those who break the law.

"The city of Oakland will not be bullied by threats of violence or illegal activity," city administrator Deanna Santana said in a statement issued Friday.

This article includes reporting from NBCBayArea.com, The Associated Press and msnbc.com's Miranda Leitsinger and Alastair Jamieson.

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Updated at 7:45 p.m. ET

NEW YORK, NY --  A festive and celebratory mood quickly turned tense and angry Saturday as New York police arrested about 50 Occupy Wall Street protesters at a church-owned lot demonstrators had hoped to use as a camp site.

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A dozen or so protesters climbed a wooden ladder into the fenced lot at Duarte Square, witnesses said. One of them was George E. Packard, an Occupy Wall Street supporter and retired Episcopal bishop to the Armed Forces and Chaplaincies, according to J.A. Myerson, a writer with Truthout.

PhotoBlog: Occupy Wall Street tries to seize church lot for new camp

Several hundred people gathered across the street, where dozens of police tried to clear sidewalks as people shouted and screamed at them. After the arrests, a few hundred protesters made a blocks-long, late-afternoon march to the church rectory chanting, "For every eviction another occupation" and "Bloomberg beware, Zuccotti Park is everywhere." They later headed uptown to Times Square. 

Legal sources say about 50 people were arrested, though the NYPD press office said late Saturday they did not have the arrest tally and protesters were still being arrested.

"This whole occupation has been a lesson in freedom for me," said Ashley Perry, 24, who traveled from her home in Tampa, Fla., to support her New York counterparts. "If you still think that you have your First Amendment rights, go out and try to express them… and see how long it takes for someone to come and shut you down -- it will happen quickly."

Earlier in the day, demonstrators played drums, cymbals and trombones, held group meetings and waved signs with a variety of messages -- "Disobedience is civil" and "Sorry to inconvenience your apathy" -- as they marked the completion of three months with a major direct action that they hoped would give them a new home as authorities continue to shutter camps nationwide. 

Protesters -- flanked by police officers -- coalesced on the nearly half-acre plot about one mile northwest of their former camp at Zuccotti Park. But their potential new landlord at Duarte Square, Trinity Church, voiced strong opposition.

"We do not ... believe that erecting a tent city at Duarte Square enhances their mission or ours," The Rev. Dr. James H. Cooper, said in a statement Saturday and posted to the church website. "The vacant lot has no facilities to sustain a winter encampment. In good conscience and faith, we strongly believe to do so would be wrong, unsafe, unhealthy, and potentially injurious. We will continue to provide places of refuge and the responsible use of our facilities in the Wall Street area."

Linda Hanick, a spokeswoman for the church, said earlier this week that their position would not change and on Friday, a statement from the city's bishop sided with Trinity.

Under the banner of "Re-Occupy," the protesters said more than 1,400 people -- elders of the civil rights movement, prominent artists, faith leaders and community members -- would help them try and set up camp. The total numbers were not known, though several hundred people appeared to have joined the effort, with people being photographed at the "99% photobooth," while others danced around musicians and chanted, "Occupy." A group of hunger strikers with a sign reading "Day 15" also gathered at the site.

"I'm just loving seeing everybody from Zuccotti Park and it really puts an exclamation point on the (question) that's been asked today so many times, 'Do you guys need a space?' ... and the answer is, 'yes.' When you walk around and see the familiar faces and the kindred spirits and the unification of effort, then you realize yes we do need a space so that we can all be together and function as whole as a group and move forward, no doubt," said Thorin Caristo, a 37-year-old protester who is part of an independent livestream team.

Occupy Wall Street said in a statement ahead of the day: "Outdoor public space plays a crucial role in this civic process and encourages open, transparent organizing in our movement, unbeholden to a broken political system. As we saw in Liberty Square (Zuccotti Park), outdoor space invites people to listen, speak, share, learn, and act. It is a source of inspiration and empowerment."

Trinity Church has provided the protesters with meeting rooms and use of their neighborhood center, but rejected an earlier attempt on Nov. 15 by the protesters to move into the Duarte Square lot. The church's operations include an Episcopal parish, a commercial realty business and a grant-making organization.

"Here's a extremely wealthy church ... that can choose between its real estate empire and its conscience. This would be a big help to social justice organizing," Bill Dobbs, of the public relations working group, said Friday.

Dobbs said the movement had suffered a "setback" with the loss of its camp, but the organizing and protests had continued. Still, "it sure is helpful to have … a center of gravity," he added.

More photos of Occupy Wall Street's attempt to move into Duarte Square

One of the former leaders of the Students for a Democratic Society, Todd Gitlin, said that if the protesters didn't get the site, it was not a big deal, noting that Occupy Wall Street had become a more organized structure since it began with events going on continuously: "I think it's always a mistake to judge very much from what happens on a particular day."

Gitlin noted the movement currently "stands on the sidewalks."

"It's in the process of adjusting to two things: Number one, the loss of camps, and number two, we stand on the brink of an election year," Gitlin, a professor of sociology and journalism, said standing near the fence encircling the proposed new camp. "The eviction means that what was already a major tendency in the movement is even more prominent now, namely decentralism. It's dispersed. Lots of things are going on all the time."

Not all protesters agreed with how the day's actions came about, noting that an affinity group (one that shares the values and opinions of the movement), "kind of did this without the real consent of Occupy Wall Street," said Jason Harris, who had lived in the movement's Zuccotti Park encampment.

"A lot of people in Occupy Wall Street ... think that it sets a dangerous precedent that affinity groups can use the name, idea and basically assume sponsorship by Occupy Wall Street to do basically things that they decide they think that they need to do, which aren't necessarily in the best interests logistically" of the movement, said Harris, a university student in public policy, adding that Trinity Church had been a "bit of an ally" to the group. "Although this is wonderful, I'm afraid of how kind of autonomous actions by affinity groups within OWS could potentially damage Occupy Wall Street."

Another protester, Tim Taylor, a student and former Marine from Seattle aged in his 40s, said he was a little disappointed in the turnout.

"It’s going to take a huge impact and that impact is  basically the volume of people, to see you know Manhattan filled with 50,000, 100,000, 150,000 people and to disrupt an average person’s moment in the day … then you start to make an impact," he said as protesters marched to the city’s midtown neighborhood, passing by police with orange mesh used to kettle demonstrators. "But it shows promise that, you know, it’s a young organization that’s only been around for three months … and it’s spread around the country, if not even around the world. ...

"Nothing is ever easy and nothing is ever quick," he added. "You have to put in an effort and you have to work for it, and this group shows that they’re willing to do that."

 

Across the country, Occupy protesters have sparked a variety of official responses. Some have faced police in riot gear with pepper spray, while others have been nudged out by authorities for “health and safety concerns.” In Houston, where the protesters and the police had been relatively genteel, the authorities now are pursuing highly aggressive legal cases against a group of activists.

The cases involve seven people arrested while blocking the road to the Port of Houston on Monday on the felony charge of using or possessing a “criminal instrument” — referring to PVC pipe that the activists use to link themselves together to make arrest more difficult.

Even though a Houston district court judge dismissed the cases on Wednesday, saying the prosecutors had not shown probable cause for the felony arrest, the district attorney attorney’s office said Thursday that it would seek an indictment by a grand jury.

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“Highly unusual,” is how it was characterized by Sandra Guerra Thompson, a criminal law professor at the University of Houston Law Center. “What we’re talking about is civil disobedience. We have a long history in this country of people committing crimes to bring attention to social issues… At the same time, the government has in the past arrested people when they needed to maintain order… Generally in this type of passive resistance, you’re not going to see felony charges.”

Randall Kallinen, an attorney representing one of the defendants as a member of the National Lawyers Guild, said he does not believe the protesters use of the PVC — as what they call a “sleeping dragon” or “arm tube”— meets the standard as a “criminal instrument”— a felony that carries a jail term from six months to two years.

“Criminal instruments have to be primarily designed and adapted for a crime,” Kallinen said, “not just something used in a crime.” He says the charge is used to arrest people who are planning to commit a crime, not after they have committed one.

But he says that the outcome of a grand jury, in which all proceedings are kept secret — depends largely on how the district attorney presents the case to the judges.

“There’s a saying,” says Kallinen. “In Texas, you can indict a ham sandwich.”

The Harris County District Attorney’s Office did not respond to inquiries about the arrests and charges by the time of publication.

However, Assistant District Attorney Colleen Barnett told the Houston Chronicle on Wednesday that the felony charges were appropriate.

"In the manner of its use, I believe it was a criminal instrument," Barnett told the Chronicle. "The use of it was in blocking the roadway."

Some observers say the grand jury hearing, scheduled for Tuesday, may be more related to politics or economic concerns than to the threat from PVC-wielding protesters.

She notes that the Houston protesters — unlike their counterparts in other cities — have not been forced to leave a park where they are camped, and in fact were largely ignored until they blocked the port.

“I would say that it’s an election year coming up in 2012, so there may be some politics involved,” said the University of Houston’s Guerra Thompson. “But also Houston is a city where people value work and commerce, so the interference with business is something that is going to be taken very, very seriously.”

But the whole thing strikes civil rights lawyer Michael Ratner as simply another flavor of the crackdown against Occupy protests going on around the country.

“We’ve seen numerous police tactics that are more exaggerated than they should be — whether it's 700 people getting arrested on a bridge in New York or pepper spray of UC Davis protesters or charging people excessively for criminal conduct,” says Ratner, a member of the National Lawyers Guild who is tracking cases related to the movement around the country.

“A neutral judge dismissed this case. That should have been the dead end of it,” he said. “The message it sends to people who are going to engaged in protest is that you will be punished severely.”

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Updated at 11:45 p.m. ET:

In Seattle, Wash., police used "flash bang" percussion grenades to disperse Occupy protesters at Port of Seattle after the crowd effectively shut down one of the terminals on Monday and then started to block off a second terminal.

An estimated 700 protesters in Seattle formed a blockade at the port after marching from the retail area of the city.  

The protest first targeted terminal 18, operated by SSA Marine, in an effort to cut into profits of Goldman Sachs, which is a stakeholder in the large cargo-terminal operator. Goldman is the fifth largest U.S. bank by assets.

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Protesters formed picket lines at the entrances, and built a make-shift barricade using plywood, sections of scaffolding, oil drums and shipping pallets, reported msnbc.com’s Jim Seida.

Police told KING TV that demonstrators blocked vehicular traffic and began throwing flares, bags of bricks and paint, rebar and other debris at officers at the scene. At least one officer was injured after being struck in the face by a bag of paint, KING TV reported. Eleven demonstrators were arrested. The official Occupy Seattle Twitter feed also said that police were using pepper spray.

The goal was to keep people out of the facility, while allowing people to leave, he said. One longshoreman who did enter the port said he was sympathetic with the protesters, but couldn’t afford not to work.

Occupy Seattle activist Joshua Farris said that a lot of truckers were held up in snarled traffic caused by the protesters, but that many honked and waved in support. He said he counted more than 80 police, and at least 3 arrests. Farris said the longshoremen were told they would not be paid.

Occupy Seattle activists were keeping in touch with their counterparts in other ports, and prepared to respond if the authorities cracked down at any of these protest sites.

“We were told that if another city was attacked, we would do a more aggressive occupation,” said Farris. "We would take more actions and be more disruptive.”

Updated at 5:55 p.m. ET:

Some 20 activists in solidarity with Occupy groups along the West Coast were taken into custody near the Port of Houston, KPRC TV reported.

Updated at 3:05 p.m. ET:

• In Oakland, Calif., shipping companies and the longshoremen's union agreed to send home about 150 workers, essentially halting operations at two terminals.
• In Longview, Wash., workers were sent home out of concerns for their "health and safety."
   

Updated at 2:50 p.m. ET:

17 Occupy Wall Street protesters were arrested and charged with disorderly conduct and trespassing in downtown New York City, a police spokeswoman tells msnbc.com. The protesters were targeting Goldman Sachs, which has stakes in some port facilities and which Occupy says has been trying to undermine trucker and longshoremen's unions.

Updated at 12:20 p.m. ET:

• Oakland, Calif.: Tractor-trailers en route into the facility, the nation's fourth busiest container port by volume, were backed up and idle at one entrance where protesters formed a picket line in front of police. Two longshoremen who spoke to Reuters on condition of anonymity outside the gate said they would refuse to cross picket lines to get to their jobs and assumed others would follow suit.
• Long Beach, Calif.: Activists scuffled in the rain with helmeted police officers who shoved them with batons in an effort to keep the entryway clear. At least one protester was taken away in handcuffs after the skirmish, and demonstrators later left the area to block traffic along a main thoroughfare through the port. But as rains grew heavier and police converged in force threatening arrests, protesters began to disperse on their own.
• Portland, Ore.: Motorcycle police confronted some 200 demonstrators who tried to disrupt traffic outside a terminal there. Officers later stood aside and let protesters march to the terminal entrance. The port said two of its four terminals were closed for the day due to security reasons and that 200 workers were told not to show on Monday.

Original story published at 10:30 a.m. ET: Occupy Wall Street activists along the West Coast on Monday took their protest to major ports from California to Alaska, hoping to disrupt trade and, symbolically at least, show that they can reduce corporate profits.

In Portland, Ore., police made two arrests and seized a gun and sword from people who said they were on the way to the Occupy march there. An Occupy Portland spokesman said the men were not part of the group.

Some 200 activists later marched on a maritime terminal, facing off against police on motorcycles and bikes.

In Oakland, Calif., around 1,000 people began picketing at the Port of Oakland before dawn, blocking some trucks from going inside.

"Whose streets? Our streets. Whose ports? Our ports!" were among the chants marched down streets to the port, where they were met by police in riot gear. No clashes or arrests were reported.

Protesters then formed a picket line in front of police to block the entrance.

In Long Beach, Calif., up to 400 activists gathered at a park and planned to march on the Port of Long Beach -- and particularly a dock facility whose owners include Goldman Sachs.

Efforts to shutdown multiple ports simultaneously could prove difficult because some of the facilities are in massive complexes with numerous entrances that would be hard to fully block, even if protesters turn out in large numbers.

Activists aligned with the Occupy movement did briefly succeed in shuttering maritime operations at Oakland, the nation's fourth busiest container port by volume, for several hours on Nov. 2 after police there kept their distance.

Oakland, long an Occupy hot spot, was expected again to be center stage on Monday in a day of protest seen as a test of the movement's momentum.

"The objective of the day is to shut down the port through mass action," said Mike King, a graduate student who acts as a media liaison for Occupy Oakland. "The Occupy movement is attacking the 1 percent at their point of profit."

Portland affiliate KGW.com coverage 
NBCBayArea.com coverage 
NBCLosAngeles.com coverage
Seattle affiliate KING5.com coverage

Among those expected to take part in the port protests was Scott Olsen, a U.S. Marine veteran critically wounded in October clashes with police in Oakland in an incident that gave fresh impetus to the Occupy movement.

"Scott's decision to demonstrate so soon following a serious injury is symbolic of the Occupy movement's resilience following a series of nationwide, coordinated crackdowns against the 99 percent," Iraq Veterans Against the War said in a statement announcing Olsen would take part.

The Port of Oakland has mounted a public relations campaign to dissuade protesters from joining the effort, while two of the largest labor unions involved have split -- with the International Longshore and Warehouse Union opposed to the blockade and Teamsters taking a neutral stance.

But union workers were largely expected to stay on the job, and were contractually barred from joining such a strike. The protest will focus in part on truck drivers who earn low wages and cannot join unions because they are classified as independent, and must provide their own trucks.

"It's a group that encapsulates basically everything that is wrong with society," King said.

Among the companies at which protesters directed their ire was SSA Marine, which loads and unloads cargo ships. Organizers said they planned to target its terminal at the combined ports of Los Angeles-Long Beach, which together handle 40 percent of the nation's waterborne imports.

"They are independent contractors," SSA Marine spokesman Bob Watters said of the nonunion drivers. Truckers provide their own vehicles and the lease agreements are day by day, he said, allowing them to work for many companies.

Oakland port spokesman Isaac Kos-Read said the issue of independent truckers was being adjudicated in court, and that the port was working with unions and its tenants to improve the environmental impact of trucking.

Msnbc.com's Miranda Leitsinger, Kari Huus and Jim Seida, as well as Reuters and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

 

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Deadlines for Occupy Boston and Occupy Seattle to vacate their protest camps came and went without confrontation with police on Friday, as most demonstrators helped dismantle the sites and clean up the area where some had lived for as long as two months.

But in Boston, a small contingent vowed to stay on and risk arrest, the Boston Herald reported.

Boston protesters had a deadline of midnight Thursday to move out of Dewey Square, under an order from Mayor Thomas Menino, after a judge refused to grant the protesters an injunction to protect them from an anti-camping rule.

---

The larger tents in the square that had been used for communication, health and food had been hauled away, but about two dozen occupiers were hunkered down Friday afternoon and making winter camping plans, according the Herald.  

About 100 protesters had been occupying part of Seattle Central Community College campus in the city. They lost their appeal on Dec. 2 for the court to impose an injunction against an emergency rule ordering them to leave, citing health and safety concerns.

Eviction notices were posted several days later, giving them 72 hours to leave. As of noon, about two-thirds of the 100 or so protesters staying on the grounds had taken down their tents, according to a report from NBC station KING in Seattle.

In was unclear whether or where the Seattle protesters would set up a new base. They were expected to take part in an Occupy movement action to march on ports all along the West coast on Monday.

The Occupy Wall Street movement is a protest against corporate greed and influence in the political system and growing economic disparity in the country. In many cities, police have cleared protesters' camps in recent weeks, but protesters are planning their next actions.

This article includes reporting from NBC station KING 5 of Seattle.

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