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Updated Dec. 12, 2011 at 8:49 p.m.

For the second time in six weeks, thousands of protesters converged on the Port of Oakland Monday, effectively shutting it down.

Unlike the Nov. 2 demonstration, which had broad support from organized labor, Monday’s action drew a sizable crowd without the backing of most union leaders, suggesting that the Occupy movement’s message has resonated with rank-and-file union members and the broader public.

But Oakland Mayor Jean Quan, who once described her city as "the 99 percent," said the latest shutdown was a form of "economic violence" that was "not fair" to the city's residents.

At a press conference Monday night, a visibly frustrated Quan said protesters had "made a point" on Nov. 2. "But by doing it again and again and again, they are hurting people."

“They're saying, 'Oh we want to get the attention of the ruling class,'" she said. "I think the ruling class is probably laughing, and people in this city will be crying this Christmas. It's really got to stop.”

About 150 of the Port's 200 union workers were sent home Monday morning, according to Craig Merrilees, spokesman for the International Longshore Workers Union. No longshoremen were called in for the night shift, preventing three ships berthed at the Port Monday night from being loaded or unloaded, according to Port spokeswoman Marilyn Sandifur.

“Today's disruptions have been costly to Port workers and their families in terms of lost wages and shifts, to Oakland and the region in terms of lost tax revenue, and to one of the most progressive Ports in the country in terms of draining already limited resources that should be focused on real solutions to the problems plaguing our economy,” Sandifur said in a statement Monday night.

The demonstration was part of a coordinated plan to shut down West Coast ports, and was endorsed by Occupy movements from Anchorage to San Diego, with each city planning a shutdown of its own. Protesters forced some shipping terminals in Portland, Ore., and Longview, Wash., to halt operations. 

In Seattle, police used "flash-bang" percussion grenades to clear protesters from an entrance at the Port of Seattle, the Associated Press reported.

In response, the Occupy Oakland protesters, who held a meeting near the Hanjin shipping terminal Monday night, voted to extend their protest and try to block workers from entering the Port of Oakland for the shift that begins at 3 a.m. Tuesday.

Oakland police Chief Howard Jordan said Monday night that police would monitor the protesters' activity and decide how to respond based on “the crowd’s demeanor and the resources we have available.”

Last month's shutdown delayed shipping traffic and cost the Port of Oakland hundreds of thousands of dollars. That protest was largely a response to police tactics used during the eviction of the Occupy Oakland encampment on Oct. 25. 

But on Monday evening, weeks after police cleared Occupy Oakland from Frank H. Ogawa plaza, a broad swath of protesters from across the Bay Area — including labor organizers, small business owners and laid-off workers — poured into the Port, some climbing on top of trucks.

"We’re the working class, we are the majority of people in this nation and if we want to stop work we’ll stop it," said Jason Mueller, 31, a gardener who lives in Oakland. "There’s momentum here and we need to try to keep it up."

Macheo Subiana, 58, a custodian who lives in East Oakland, said, “I want the 99 percent to own the society because the 99 percent produces everything.” Union leadership, on the other hand, “is corrupt and bought out by the 1 percent,” he said.

Oakland attorney Dan Siegel, Quan's former legal adviser, was among those participating in a march to the Port of Oakland Monday morning for the planned blockade.

Siegel resigned as Quan's unpaid legal adviser on Nov. 14, the morning that police raided the Occupy Oakland encampment outside City Hall.

Throughout the day, the protests were largely peaceful, with only two arrests reported as of 7 p.m. Police presence was minimal for most of the day.

West Coast activists have said Monday's action was in solidarity with members of the International Longshore and Warehouse Union in Longview, Wash., who are in a long-standing dispute with the grain exporter EGT.

ILWU leaders have accused the Occupy activists of attempting to co-opt the ILWU struggle for a broader agenda, suggesting that the action may do more to harm the union's cause than help it.

However, Occupy Oakland has drawn support from individual union members, and the ILWU has supported the broader goals of the Occupy movement while not directly endorsing the Port actions.

Adi Sambamurthy/The Bay Citizen

Occupy protesters surround a truck at the port of Oakland on Dec. 12, 2011.

The protest began just after 5:30 a.m. Monday when demonstrators began marching from the West Oakland BART station. They arrived at the port around 6 a.m. and protested for about four hours, keeping trucks and many union members from entering the port.

When the demonstrators heard that the terminal operators sent the 150 longshore workers home, they declared victory and headed back to downtown Oakland.

At 3 p.m., the protesters reconvened at Frank Ogawa Plaza, before marching back to the port a little after 4 p.m., led by Scott Olsen, the Iraq war veteran who was injured in a clash between police and Occupy Oakland protesters on Oct. 25. 

Many trucking companies hesitated to send trucks to Oakland Monday morning, according to Michael Shaw, a spokesman for the California Truckers Association, a Sacramento-based trade association that represents trucking companies that deliver and pick up from California's ports.

"If they go and they can’t get in, all they’re doing is burning money," he said.

Shaw said some trucks were able to get through by using alternative entrances.

Joel Hume, a truck driver for CR England, said he understood the protesters' "cause, but not their method."

“My view is very simple. It’s wasting my time and costing me money," Hume said. "These people are taking food out of my family’s mouth.”

Longshoreman John Hughes said there were not a lot of ships to unload Monday morning.

“What do I think of it? I think it was a waste of time," Hughes said, adding that he thought the economic impact on the shippers would be minimal.

Don Grunmann, 59, a chiropractor from San Leandro, was critical of the protesters' tactics. On Monday evening, he stood at the Port holding a sign that said, "Occupy Attacks Working People."

"If I was the 1 percent, I'd be happy" about the protest, he said. "This takes energy away from opposing them."

Quan echoed critics Monday night. 

“The city has been very generous to the 99 percent movement, but they need to rethink it,” she said.

The Bay City News Service contributed to this report.