From what I heard, they were there most of the day and police finally went in to remove them late in the day while rush hour traffic was blocked. I think the County Sheriff was going to let them hang there, but I believe a whole mess of highly influential people were burning up the phones about the Ship Channel being shut down and traffic disrupted. I have heard a whole bunch of people say they wouldn't care if someone went along and cut all the ropes.
Not surprising. I wouldn't be surprised if that little stunt added up to a few million dollars in losses. Shipping is a minute by minute business. I can't remember the numbers anymore, but I think it's in the thousands of dollars per hour for every hour a ship is held up from its projected timetable.
