Occupy movement in the United States
The Occupy movement spread to many other cities in the United States and worldwide beginning with the Occupy Wall Street protests in New York City in September 2011. The movement sought to advance social and economic justice and different forms of democracy but each local group varied in specific aims. The demonstrations and encampment in New York City spread to other major and smaller cities. Some camps lasted through 2012. What follows is an alphabetical, non-chronological summary of Occupy encampments in the United States.
Locations
Ashland, Oregon
included a peaceful protest and demonstration against economic inequality, corporate greed and the influence of corporations and lobbyists on government which has taken place in Ashland, Oregon, United States since October 6, 2011. The protests began in solidarity with the Occupy Wall Street protests in New York. The protests included an occupation of the downtown Plaza and a daily picket outside the JPMorgan Chase branch in Ashland. Some have felt that it is possible for the Occupy Ashland group to work together with local Tea Party members, since they both have goals of reducing the power and "stranglehold" that the upper class and the government has on the rest of the population.The protest began on October 6 with a group of 25 protesters handing out pamphlets in front of the city's Chase Bank. Police were called to the scene, but the protesters followed the directions to not clutter the streets and no citations were issues by officers. Gene Pelham, CEO of local Ashland bank Rogue Credit Union, stated that since the start of the protests, the number of new customers accounts for the bank had doubled for the month of October.
The 25 bank protesters and more later, numbering around 250, showed up at 3 pm in the public Plaza in Ashland to attend the opening speeches. The original protest was only meant to be for two days over that weekend. However, the protesters ended up spending twenty-two days camped in the Plaza and also spent the days making small protest marches throughout the rest of Ashland, though these marches eventually dwindled. During this period, around 15 protesters were involved in the Plaza protest camp, with 40 total protesters involved in the daily marches. A group vote was held over the weekend of October 29 and the Occupy Ashland group members decided to lessen the amount of marches and camping in the Plaza. Instead, they decided to have group meetings every weekend to work on local issues, though this resulted in the loss of some members who felt that the Plaza should remain occupied, regardless of the actions of city officials.
During late November and early December 2011, Occupy Ashland members began focusing on trying to encourage students at Southern Oregon University to become a part of the protest. The group organized a march, titled Occupy SOU, with around 50 people attending and they marched from the SOU campus to downtown Ashland. The Occupy Ashland speakers told students at the event that they need to "speak out against the high amount of student loan debt." On January 16, 2012, a celebration march was held by Occupy Ashland members to commemorate Martin Luther King Jr. Day.
After Occupy Ashland had more than 300 local residents sign a petition that requested the city use a local bank for its financial endeavors, the Ashland City Council "voted unanimously" on December 20 to "conduct a review of the city's criteria for selecting a financial institution for city banking needs". Occupy Ashland member Evan Lasley stated on February 9, 2012, that, due to the group's campaign against using big banks, they have been able to convince "about 5.6 million people to move their money from big banks to community banking systems and credit unions in the last 6 months, more than all transfers in 2010."
Around 50 members of Occupy Ashland attended the Medford protest on October 15, 2011. On December 12, 2011, several of the Ashland protesters traveled to be involved in the Port of Portland protests. A protest against the National Defense Authorization Act was held on February 13, 2012, involving Occupy Ashland, Occupy Medford, Occupy Grants Pass, and Wake Up America Southern Oregon. On March 4, 2012, a "candlelight vigil" titled "March Forth on March 4th" will be held by Occupy Ashland and OSPIRG, focused on the "death of free and fair elections due to money's influence in politics", along with the problems that the in-statement of corporate personhood has caused.
As stated by Emery Way, one of the organizers of Occupy Ashland, the protest has begun to focus on specific issues, such as "opposing the Mt. Ashland Ski Area expansion, bringing a homeless shelter to Ashland and reworking the city's camping ban among other homelessness issues, and opposing local foreclosures". Way also stated that the group was planning on running some members for Mayor and City Council in 2012, though no concrete decision had been made. Another major goal of the group, as explained by organizer Keith Haxton, is to "organize an occupation of Salem in conjunction with the beginning of Oregon's 2012 legislative session".
During the early months of 2012, Occupy Ashland began working with Good Grief America to focus on "the economic and personal hardships associated with foreclosure" and have started a "Legalize Sleep Campaign" that focuses on ending homelessness.
Atlanta, Georgia
is a protest and demonstration that began on October 6, 2011, in Woodruff Park, located in downtown Atlanta, Georgia. It is inspired by the Occupy Wall Street movement that began in New York City on September 17.On Friday, October 6, 2011, the protesters at Occupy Atlanta did not reach a consensus on allotting time for U.S. Rep. and Civil Rights Movement icon John Lewis to address the crowd. The main argument against allowing Rep. Lewis to speak was that no one person is inherently more valuable than anyone else, and that allowing a speech at that time was not part of that day's agenda. He was invited to speak at time later in the day, during the "other business" part of the process, and this proposition was accepted by the assembly. Lewis was unable to attend because of prior commitments, but indicated that he was not offended by the incident. On October 9, the group posted an apology on its website and invited Lewis to speak. Lewis was not disappointed he wasn't able to address the crowd. After the incident, Lewis further voiced his support for the movement:
I stand with you. I support you, what you're doing to humanize American corporations, humanize the American government and look out for those who have been left out and left behind.
On November 7, 2011, Occupy Atlanta protesters camped out in a home in Snellville. It belonged to a police officer, who had contacted Occupy explaining that the house had been foreclosed upon and that he and his family were shortly to be evicted. The protesters left on the 10th after the local sheriff said that the family could be arrested for accessory to trespassing. Occupy Atlanta has stated that they hope this action, and similar ones planned in the future, will bring attention to the foreclosure crisis. A week later, Occupy Cleveland took similar action and succeeded in preventing the eviction of a family from a foreclosed home; the family were given 30 more days.
Around 1 am on Wednesday, October 26, 2011, police blocked off motor vehicle access to Woodruff Park. Mayor Kasim Reed had revoked the executive order he established that allowed the protesters to lawfully stay in the park. Reed characterized the situation as a crisis and over 150 officers with 3 helicopters using spotlights the SWAT team, and police on horseback and motorcycles were used. At one point during the arrests, protesters not in the park took over the streets. This is when police brought in their motorcycle police to try to break up the crowd that was forming on the streets. Instead of separating, the crowd of protesters marched towards the oncoming police motorcycles and forced them to turn around and head the other way. Fifty two protesters in the park were arrested. Among the arrested was Georgia state Senator Vincent Fort, who said of Reed, "He's using all these resources.... This is the most peaceful place in Georgia."
During the day of Tuesday October 25, "An Associated Press reporter talked to man with the gun slung across his back... as he walked in the park. He wouldn't give his name, but said he was an out-of-work accountant who doesn't agree with the protesters' views, but was there, armed, because he wanted to protect the rights of people to protest. There's no law that prevents him from carrying the weapon in public, but several police followed him for about 10 minutes before moving off." Also, a homeless shelter that housed more than 100 Occupy Atlanta protesters tested positive for tuberculosis.
Austin, Texas
is an occupation and peaceful protest that began on October 6, 2011, at City Hall in Austin, Texas. It is affiliated with the Occupy Wall Street movement that began in New York City, and also with the "Occupy" protests in the United States and around the world. At the center of the occupation is the General Assembly, where the community comes out and tries to come to consensus on proposals for action.The original intent of Occupy Austin, as with many of the other "Occupy" movements, was to denounce the role that large corporations had in promulgating the 2008 financial crisis. The protesters in Austin, as in other movements throughout the world, have described themselves as the "99 percent," a reflection of their belief that the financial system rewards the richest 1 percent at the expense of everyone else. One of the features the Occupy Austin Event had at the beginning was that the occupation began progressing with little interference from the police and the city government. The organizers and occupiers had been mainly cooperative with the police, and some of the protesters had expressed appreciation for the role that the Austin Police Department has played during the occupation.
On October 7, 2011, Occupy Austin sponsored and led a march to Bank of America Center. A few hundred people participated in this march. On October 10, 2011, a march was held to celebrate Indigenous People's Day. On October 12, 2011, the City of Austin announced that the demonstration area in front of City Hall would be closed nightly between 2 a.m. and 6 a.m., and that protesters would have to move during this time period. On October 13, 2011, at roughly 2:45 am, four protesters were arrested by Austin Police Department authorities when they refused to move as ordered.
On October 13, 2011, the Library of Congress chose Occupy Austin's main web portal for inclusion in the historic collection of Internet materials focusing on public policy topics, and commenced archiving the web portal. On October 15, 2011, a march was held to the JPMorgan Chase Tower and to the Texas State Capitol. Over 1000 people participated in the march. Some protesters closed their accounts at Chase Bank. Chase Bank allowed customers who could document that they had Chase accounts into the building singularly to close their accounts.
On October 28, the City of Austin declared in a memo that new restrictions had been approved and would begin being enforced. These included a prohibition of sleeping on the mezzanine, exhibiting unattended signs, and the operation of food tables during certain hours. On October 30 at approximately 12:30 am, 18 demonstrators at the Austin City Hall mezzanine, some of whom were forming an impromptu human chain around three food tables, were arrested on charges of criminal trespassing. Subsequently, 20 additional demonstrators were arrested for refusing to vacate the area for cleaning. As per the terms of their charges, those arrested were barred from returning to the protest area for at least two years.
Addressing the public in a press conference, Austin chief of police Art Acevedo stated "Austin is very fortunate that we have an activist community that understands that violence doesn't get you anything," but that "once you're given the criminal trespassing warning, you either comply or engage in civil disobedience. That's what 38 folks did yesterday and that's why they were arrested," reaffirming his position that "we're very kind, but we're going to do our job."
In a press release issued by the Occupy Austin General Assembly, spokesperson Jonathan Cronin asserted that "on Thursday, Chief of Police Acevedo had addressed the GA and had every opportunity to raise the proposed changes and answer questions about them. His silence about them, followed by these actions, has been taken as a provocation," and that the incident was "entirely out of character from the good faith dealings we have had with city and police officials until now. Imposing these apparently without due process is unnecessary and inflammatory."
Jim Harrington, director of the Texas Civil Rights Project, issued a statement saying that "If the police couldn't handle the situation, then it would have been appropriate to bring in a mediator. It's an absurd waste of tax money to spend police time and energy to break up a pure first amendment demonstration."
On October 31, a fundraiser with live music performances was held to help cover legal expenses for those recently arrested. On November 5, demonstrators marched to Wells Fargo in observation of Bank Transfer Day.