Trucks and SUVs from Customs and Border Protection have arrived at Coast Guard Island. Credit: Alex N. Gecan

On Wednesday, a Coast Guard spokesperson, Petty Officer Graves, confirmed that an “operation” was underway and that the Coast Guard’s facilities in Alameda, on a small island connected to Oakland by a single road, would be providing support to Customs and Border Protection. The Coast Guard is supporting the Trump administration’s efforts to track down immigrants in the country illegally.

Berkeley is a sanctuary city, and local immigrant advocacy groups and elected officials have been planning for stepped up federal operations in the Bay Area.

The group Bay Resistance has planned a protest for Thursday, Oct. 23, at 5 p.m. at San Francisco Embarcadero Plaza.

The San Francisco Bay Area Independent Media Center posted that there will be a Sanctuary Faith Vigil Thursday, 7:30 to 10 a.m., at the Oakland entrance to the bridge that leads to Coast Guard Island, at Dennison Street and Embarcadero.

The Freedom Road Socialist Organization’s Oakland chapter had called for an “ICE out of the Bay” march and rally beginning at Oakland’s Fruitvale Plaza at 4 p.m. and ending at Coast Guard Island Bridge.

7:55 a.m.

Clergy and others have arrived for the vigil; it appears that at least 150 protesters are now present, including one dressed as Wonder Woman. One protester had his foot run over as he was attempting to block an SUV from driving into the island.

Credit: Alex N. Gecan

7:20 a.m.

Customs and Border Protection has arrived. A projectile was fired twice — a large concussion and then smoke. The protesters scattered, and several CBP vehicles, mostly trucks and SUVs, got through.

Credit: Alex N. Gecan

7:12 a.m.

More protesters are arriving by the minute. No cars at all are getting into the bridge anymore. Three staffers from the Oakland Department of Public Works briefly stopped by and left.

Coast Guard security officers have assembled at the entrance to Coast Guard Island Bridge. Credit: Alex Gecan/Berkeleyside

7:02 a.m.

At least 50 protesters now on site, and in a half hour the Sanctuary Faith Vigil is set to begin so more will likely show up soon. Some are chanting at the Coast Guard security officers, “Quit your job!”

A heckler yelled at the crowd to “get a real job” and “go home.” Then he himself left, possibly to go home.

There are beginning to be low-level confrontations with the Coast Guard security officers. One woman could be heard saying, “Do not touch me officer!” At least one Coast Guard security officer on the scene is carrying an automatic weapon.

Meanwhile, the Home Depot off High Street in Fruitvale looks quiet. Very few day laborers are gathered along the streets and corners where they usually congregate. Maybe half a dozen street vendors are setting up for the day.

6:35 a.m.
There are now around a dozen protesters gathered at the entrance to the bridge. Some have begun walking back and forth in the crosswalk across the access road, holding up traffic. One protester on a bullhorn is saying, “They’re taking your neighbors to concentration camps.” Coast Guard security officers are coming down to the entrance, trying to move the protesters out of the way and allow vehicles in.

Traffic is stacking up on all feeder roads to the bridge — Embarcadero and Dennison going both directions. One protester brought a wagon loaded with speakers and is playing Vivaldi.

Credit: Alex N. Gecan

6:08 a.m.
A few more protesters are gathering at the entrance to the bridge.

5:42 a.m.

Right now, everything is quiet at the Oakland side of the narrow two-lane road that leads on and off of Coast Guard Island in the predawn darkness, at the corner of Dennison Street and Embarcadero East. But there’s a steady stream of traffic onto the island, vehicles of all makes and models. Coast Guard Island, home to a Coast Guard base, sits in the Oakland Estuary between Oakland and Alameda.

There are also about a dozen reporters gathered, vying for photographs of a single protester standing at the base of the bridge to the island, holding a sign that reads “ICE out now” and “Shame on you.” The protester has declared a “citizens’ checkpoint,” and is yelling “What are you doing here?” at cars headed into the facility. Four guardsmen are directing traffic around him.

Nearby, a dumpster has been sprayed with anti-ICE messages.

The Oakland entrance to the bridge that leads to Coast Guard Island. Credit: Darwin BondGraham/The Oaklandside

The Associated Press contributed reporting to this story.

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