Protestors ‘Occupy’ Around the Country

On September 17, 2011 Occupy Wall Street was born. Hundreds of protesters marched on Broadway to protest Wall Street “greed;” that night they camped out in Zuccotti Park located nearby.

They occupy to bring justice back to America. They occupy to represent the 99% of Americans who are working harder every year and are making less than ever before, and they occupy to protect the rights they feel have been trampled on by corporate corruption in this country.

These followers are men and women from all walks of life and all ages; they have committed themselves to the Occupy Wall Street Movement: students, workers, veterans, the employed and the unemployed, Republicans and Democrats.

Occupy Wall Street marks the first time that Americans have participated in a major organized protest since the 1960s protests against the Vietnam war.

Since the first march on Wall Street, the Occupy Movement has gained speed and has sprung up in major cities all across the country. The Occupy Movement has grown extremely fast over the past few months, something it can accredit to its use of social media.

Using websites such as Twitter and Facebook, the leaders of the movement have been able to keep the Occupiers informed and organized by instantly sending information to all of their followers.

Just the other day the Occupy LA movement sent this tweet out to over 25,000 followers:

“11:13am Head over to the BofA foreclosure sell off ASAP. #OccupyLA supporters are in Action at 12720 Norwalk Blvd., Norwalk, CA 90650.”

Tweets such as this one have been flying back and forth on Twitter every day, and are essentially fueling the Occupy movements.

If this continues, the Occupy Wall Street Movement may play a large part in the upcoming election and upcoming policy changes that are focused on finding a solution to the long-term budget shortcomings.

Governments in each affected city are dealing with each Occupy movement in different ways. The most notable movements are New York and Oakland, mostly because of the violent turn they have taken.

In Oakland, a man was shot and killed just outside of the Occupy Oakland encampment in front of the local BART station after an argument that had broken out. The shooting took place on the one-month anniversary of the camp’s establishment.

As all the major metropolitan cities gear up to handle an Occupy movement of their own, all eyes are on Los Angeles and its police department. Los Angeles is the home of the most recent Occupy upstart.

So far the LAPD have cleared all occupiers from their camp at City Hall, a raid which was relatively peaceful and resulted in no injuries.

But just because the encampment has been cleared does not mean that the Occupy L.A. movement (or any other city for that matter) is over. The Occupy movement is still strong and will continue to be until the protesters feel that their voices have been heard.

The people in the Occupy Wall Street movement came up with a declaration explaining what they are about and why they have taken to the streets and occupied America. They have posted the declaration on their website at http://occupylosangeles.org/