Live blog: Michael Moore crosses the Bay, visits Occupy SF

Occupy Oakland protesters have returned to Frank Ogawa Plaza, pitching some dozens of tents in front of City Hall at 14th Street and Broadway. City leaders have asked that no one camp in the plaza, but also said they would not move to oust demonstrators to avoid new confrontations.
3:55 p.m.: Michael Moore stops by Occupy San Francisco
Filmmaker Michael Moore, fresh off his Occupy Oakland visit the day before, crossed the Bay and spoke at the San Francisco encampment in Justin Herman Plaza this afternoon.
"He was awesome ... His coming here reaffirms and confirms what we're doing out here and how important it is," said Skud, a protestor camped there since Sept. 17.
Tony, who's been living in a tent in the plaza for two weeks, said Moore spoke about how the movement has spread.
"He spoke about Occupy Fayeteville and he spoke about how the Occupy Wall Street has spread to small towns," he said.
Tony was excited in the crowd diversity too.
"It's wonderful to see all these older hippies who had hung up their tie-dye for a suit and tie now coming back out and joining us," he said. "It's what makes us so strong."
The filmmaker is next heading to Occupy Grass Valley.
3:10 p.m.: Union members march along 14th Street
Union members marched up and down 14th Street for a short period of time, chanting: "We're fired up!" and "Si se puede!"
The group is dressed in purple SEIU T-shirts and many are United Long Term Care Workers.
After the brief flurry of activity, the group has stopped.
2:35 p.m.: Special city council public forum called for Thursday
The Oakland City Council rules committee has called a special council meeting Thursday to hear from the public about Occupy Oakland.
"The purpose of the public forum is to seek input from the public regarding the Occupy Oakland/Occupy Wall Street demonstrations, to hear from people affected by the demonstrations and response, and to develop a strategy for accommodating peaceful demonstrations going forward," the city administrator's news release said.
The meeting is scheduled for 5:30 p.m. at the council chambers.
Earlier Saturday, filmmaker Michael Moore dropped by the Occupy San Francisco encampment at Justin Herman Plaza and encouraged campers there. Moore visited Occupy Oakland on Friday, telling the crowd that they had galvanized the national movement.
1:05 p.m.: Occupy Oakland drums up support for general strike
Members of the movement have fanned out across Oakland, soliciting support for Wednesday's general strike to "shut down" the city.
A handful of people handed out fliers on Piedmont Avenue in the midst of a large Halloween parade for children, and went into nearby businesses to urge merchants to close their doors during the planned day of action.
"Liberate Oakland," the fliers read. "Shut down the 1 percent. General strike and mass day of action called for by Occupy Oakland on Wednesday, Nov. 1.
"Everyone to the streets! No work! No school! Converge on downtown Oakland to help shut down the city. Mass gathering at 14th and Broadway at 9 a.m. All banks and corporations must close down for the day or we will march on them."
12:25 p.m.: The curious flock to the camp
People curious about the new encampment are trickling in.
Two men in wigs seemed excited by the drumming while they walked through a passageway from Broadway to the plaza. After the percussion stopped, the men milled around, looking a little lost. A couple with three children walked through, looking like tourists on a sightseeing excursion.
Oakland firefighters just drove by in a rig. They didn't stop but peered from 14th Street toward the camp.
One man sat down to eat lunch on a nearby bench facing the amphitheater. He said he was wholeheartedly in support of the effort. "It's the protest of the 21st century."
Earlier, another man standing nearly in the same spot, had the opposite reaction. He resented what it cost the city to clean up and police an action that was just "whistling in the wind."
The banks and corporations haven't registered any effect of the movement, at least not in Oakland, he said, noting the CEOs are up in their offices counting their money.
The occupiers should take their protest to Sacramento, he said.
Oakland, he said, has been through enough.
12:10 p.m.: Planning continues for general strike
Drivers passing by the square are honking in support of the protesters. The assembly meeting in the amphitheater broke out into smaller groups to discuss outreach plans in advance of next week's general strike.
They'll team up in advance of Wednesday's action and try to get the community involved or at least make residents aware of what will be happening that day. They're calling on students and workers to join Occupy Oakland in the streets but they are still making specific plans. So far they've decided to form a picket line at the Port of Oakland. Members of the International Longshore and Warehouse Workers union, which primarily represents dock workers, pledged not to break the line.
11:50 a.m.: Crowd grows at Occupy Oakland
A good hundred people have gathered in the amphitheater at Frank Ogawa Plaza, as the atmosphere in the camp has turned festive. About a dozen drummers are entertaining the campers and many people are dancing.
Photographers continue to take pictures around the camp. A camper who previously threatened a photographer has since apologized.
11:20 a.m.: No march
A march reportedly planned for 11 a.m. around Oakland doesn't appear as if it will get off the ground, as demonstrators are still waking up around the camp. A 5 p.m. meeting is apparently planned, however, to discuss Wednesday's general strike.
Some camp occupiers have told news photographers not to take pictures of the encampment or the people there. One resident threatened a photographer if he tried to take pictures.
9:40 a.m.: Reinforcements from New York?
One demonstrator says more tents will soon arrive at Frank Ogawa Plaza -- from supporters in New York.
Occupy Wall Street is reportedly going to send some tents to join the Oakland encampment. Protesters, who rose to a breakfast of apples, oranges and pastries, also say Occupy Wall Street is going to help out with some monetary donations, although that has not been confirmed.
9 a.m.: Organizing for health inspection
Workers in the Occupy Oakland camp kitchen are busy preparing for an expected visit from a health inspector.
One of the city's conditions on allowing the demonstrators to remain is that officials from the public health department and other agencies have access to the camp, and Saturday the group expects someone to drop by.
Oakland officials cited unsanitary conditions at the previous camp as one of the reasons they moved to shut it down. Asked what the camp would do differently this time to ensure those conditions don't return, one protester said they won't keep so much stuff lying around.
Other demonstrators are still waking, trying to organize for a planned 11 a.m. march.
8:30 a.m.: More tents by the minute
The fourth day of re-Occupy Oakland dawned Saturday with as many as 60 tents dotting the lawn in front of City Hall. One reporter said it seemed as if the tents were multiplying by the minute.
For every tent, there are probably quadruple the number of people in the camp, with many sleeping unsheltered on the ground in front of, behind and between tents.
The camp First Aid Station is up and running, and there's evidence the protesters are in it for the long haul. The tents have transformed the lawn into a checkerboard of blue, red, yellow, beige and army green. Yawning dogs stretch and scratch, waiting to be fed as their owners slowly emerged from their tents.
A woman on a bike rode by and yelled, "Good morning, Oakland."
Alicia Arnold and Steve Butler, two Oakland school teachers, were up early to help unload nine portable toilets paid for by donations, mostly from unions friendly to the cause.
Arnold and Butler's union, the Oakland Education Association, has been helping the movement by handling donations. The self-declared leaderless Occupy Oakland group does not have a bank account through which donations can be processed.
Protesters are planning an 11 a.m. "mass propaganda action" and march around the city, according to a tweet from @occupyoakland.
Rallies are also planned at 5 and 6 p.m. Saturday.
8 a.m.: Oakland teachers support general strike
In a news release Friday, the union representing Oakland teachers announced its unanimous endorsement of Occupy Oakland's general strike planned for Wednesday, and urged its members to "participate in a variety of ways, including taking personal leave to join actions at Frank Ogawa Plaza, doing informational picketing at school sites, and holding teach-ins on the history of general strikes and organizing for economic justice."
"We are the 99 percent!" trumpets the release from the Oakland Education Association, which has been supporting the demonstrators.
"Faced with growing class sizes and dwindling resources, school closures, and the ongoing attempts of charter management companies to entice Oakland schools to convert to charters, it is critical that we link our struggles with those of the 99 percent of Americans fighting for social and economic justice," the release said. "It is simply wrong that banks and corporations are bailed out and continue to reap huge profits, while schools and social services suffer."

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