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Law

Union protesters hold off police in Longview dispute

A crowd of union workers and supporters gather at a crossing in Vancouver, Wash., on Wednesday. Hundreds of Longshoremen were at the crossing as part of an escalating dispute about labor at the EGT grain terminal at the Port of Longview, Wash.
Associated Press
A crowd of union workers and supporters gather at a crossing in Vancouver, Wash., on Wednesday. Hundreds of Longshoremen were at the crossing as part of an escalating dispute about labor at the EGT grain terminal at the Port of Longview, Wash.

LONGVIEW, Wash. — Hundreds of union protesters blocking a grain shipment in southwest Washington state rushed police officers who tried to make arrests and forced them to retreat.

Police tried to arrest a small number of the Longshore union activists on railroad tracks in Longview, but the crowd surged and kept the officers at bay. The police retreated about 150 feet, and no arrests appeared to have been made.

The demonstrators are protesting a decision by the owner of the EGT grain terminal to hire workers from a different union.

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