Anti-war activists who protested a Stryker brigade’s departure for Iraq out of the Port of Olympia last May are campaigning against this week’s movement of another Stryker brigade, this time through the Port of Tacoma.

About 60 protesters stood in the port late Monday and faced at least as many Tacoma and Seattle police officers in riot gear. Police, who arrested two men and a woman early Monday, arrested another woman late Monday after she crossed a line on Milwaukee Way that police had designated as a boundary. The rest of the protest was peaceful.

The three arrests came shortly after a small convoy of 12 to 15 Army vehicles arrived at a storage yard at the port. More vehicles, including Stryker armored fighting vehicles, arrived late Monday and early today, as protesters shouted the chants "You don't have to go" and "We are the majority."

The Army is moving hundreds of Strykers, trucks, Humvees and other vehicles for shipment to Iraq with the 4th Brigade. The Fort Lewis-based brigade is leaving a month earlier than previously scheduled, as part of the “surge” of U.S. forces to Iraq.

Over several days last year, Olympia police arrested dozens and used pepper spray to stop people from climbing fences into port property. Organizers – the “Olympia Port Militarization Resistance” – claimed victory in the Army’s decision to move this year’s load-out to Tacoma.

“They didn’t want the demonstrations repeated,” said activist Mark Nelson of Key Peninsula, who waved a sign that said “No War of Aggression” with about two dozen others Monday afternoon on the Pacific Avenue overpass above Interstate 5.

Officials at Fort Lewis said movement decisions are made by planners at the U.S. Army Surface Distribution and Deployment Command at Fort Eustis, Va. Typically, the selection of a port is based on its availability.

“I don’t know why they made the decision to go out of the Port of Tacoma instead of the Port of Olympia, but that’s where it comes from,” spokesman Joe Hitt said.

The Army has made frequent use of both ports in recent years. Tacoma is designated as a national strategic port, and the military is one of the port’s long-term customers. But due to increased container traffic at Tacoma, the Army went looking for an alternative, and in 2005, five military ships called in Olympia, none at Tacoma.

Last year, two military ships called at Olympia – although none since May – and three at Tacoma. The Port of Tacoma reported military shipments accounted for about 2 percent of its $92 million in revenue last year.

Fort Lewis officials said the movement of 4th Brigade vehicles to the Port of Tacoma began Sunday and is expected to continue through Friday.

Convoys of up to 25 vehicles are leaving from the post’s logistics gate late at night and during the early morning hours to avoid traffic on Interstate 5, officials said.

Among the vehicles to be shipped are more than 300 Strykers, each outfitted with slat armor that protects them from rocket-propelled grenades. But the metal cages make the Strykers about four feet wider and add some 5,200 pounds.

The convoys are traveling under escort of state and local law enforcement and Fort Lewis military police, officials said.

The Port of Tacoma has hired off-duty Tacoma officers to stand guard while the military equipment is stored at the port, police spokesman Mark Fulghum said. Members of the department’s disorderly response team and bicycle rapid response team are also on standby, and were present at the demonstrations early Monday.

Fulghum said the three arrests occurred in separate incidents between 12:20 and shortly after 1 a.m. According to police reports, one man charged through a police line and came at an officer in a threatening manner.

Police shot him with a foam projectile about the size of a small soda can – a non-lethal device that officers use in hopes of stopping a person without causing serious injury, Fulghum said. The man arrested Monday suffered a bruised thigh, he said.

A second man was arrested after he too pushed his way past the police line, Fulghum said. He struggled with officers trying to detain him and sustained a cut on his right knee, Fulghum said.

The woman who was arrested also pushed past the police line, Fulghum said, and tried to grab at one of the officers. A second officer pulled her back in a “bear hug-type” hold and took her into custody.

The three were being held in Pierce County Jail in lieu of $10,000 bail each for investigation of assault.

Fulghum said demonstrators “have been told they could protest but they have to follow the rules,” including, among others, that they can’t block streets, sidewalks or cross a police line.

Protest organizers indicated Monday they might carry out acts of civil disobedience in hopes of disrupting the load-out and persuading military planners to stop using the port for shipments to the war zone.

“The ultimate goal is to do everything we can to stop the war, and what we can do now is go down to the port,” said Patrick Edelbacher, 20, of the Tacoma Port Militarization Resistance.

Soldiers driving the trucks and Strykers have been briefed that they might encounter protesters at the port, said Piek, the post spokesman.

“They’re going to ... take all necessary precautions to make sure things are done in a safe manner,” he said.

Staff writers Kelly Kearsley, Stacey Mulick, Michael Gilbert and Paul Sand contributed to this report.