OCCUPIED!

From LA Activist: http://www.laactivist.com/2011/10/02/occupied/

By Dan Bluemel

October 2, 2011

After less than one week in planning, the sit-in protest over economic inequalities, called “Occupy LA,” descended upon City Hall yesterday with hundreds of demonstrators in tow.

Beginning from Pershing Square, approximately 400 protesters marched to City Hall, with the intention of staying. Police blocked traffic along the way, providing demonstrators safe passage.

Once they arrived their numbers swelled, peaking at an estimated 2,000, a turnout that even surprised organizers.

By noon, according to Emilio Arreola, the acting head of security for the group Occupy Los Angeles, said police had called off several units because “we have it under control.”

“Our goal is to keep it peaceful,” he said. “We are non-violent.”

Protesters carried placards, some reading “We are the 99 percent,” “We’ve been bitch-slapped by the ‘invisible hand’” and “Where’s the trickle-down?” The signs are representative of a group of people, mostly young, who are angry over Wall Street greed, corporate influence in politics and the richest one percent of Americans gaining more wealth during a period of time while the majority face unemployment, growing poverty rates and austerity measures.

Edwin Everhart, a grad student at UCLA, likened America’s current wealth distribution to a banana republic.

Continue reading at: http://www.laactivist.com/2011/10/02/occupied/