A threat of further violence from striking workers at Santos, Latin America's biggest port, kept police on alert and hampered movements of goods on Wednesday, the port authority said. Twelve ships were docked at the port, as 250 police maintained a protective barrier to repel any more attempts by the protesting dockworkers to disrupt loading and unloading. Hundreds of defiant dockworkers gathered around a city square hoping their president would return to announce a government settlement to end the nine-day strike in protest of a law, which reduces union sway in work practices. The dockworkers plan to vote on any government offer to resolve the strike that has crippled the port during a peak soybean export period later.