Unions join ‘Occupy Wall Street’ protest CBC- Several unions joined students demonstrating in New York’s financial district Wednesday in what have become known as the Occupy Wall Street protests.

National Nurses United, the Chinatown Tenants Union and the Transit Workers Union, the liberal group MoveOn.org, and community organizations like the Working Families Party and United NY were among those planning to join the demonstration and a march planned to start at 5 p.m. ET.

The march will start at Foley Square in lower Manhattan, an area encircled by courthouses and named for “Big Tom” Foley, a former blacksmith’s helper who became a prominent New York Democratic Party leader, and head to Zuccotti Park, the unofficial headquarters where protesters have been camped out in sleeping bags.

Organizers have said thousands could take part. Police said they were told by organizers to expect a crowd of about 2,000.

Several Democratic lawmakers threw their support behind the protests Wednesday. “We share the anger and frustration of so many Americans who have seen the enormous toll that an unchecked Wall Street has taken on the overwhelming majority of Americans while benefitting the super wealthy,” representatives Raul Grijalva and Keith Ellison said in a joint statement.

The protests started on Sept. 17 with a few dozen demonstrators who tried to pitch tents in front of the New York Stock Exchange.

Since then, hundreds have set up camp in the park nearby and have become increasingly organized, lining up medical aid and legal help and printing their own newspaper, the Occupied Wall Street Journal.
Canadian protests planned

Protests are planned in Canadian cities such as Vancouver, Montreal and Calgary. On Oct. 15, a group plans on staging a sit-in in Toronto’s financial district.

Chatter on social media suggests a similar event is planned for Vancouver’s financial district on the same day.

Other groups have periodically gathered and protested in spots throughout the U.S. Organizers have called for students at college campuses across the country to walk out of class in protest.

The protesters have called on higher taxes on the rich and a tax on trades of stocks, bonds, derivatives, credit default swaps, and similar financial transactions to raise government revenues.
Christian Blackfeather Ruiz, 19, from Bronx, New York, searches for a spot to camp among participants in the Occupy Wall Street Protest at Zuccotti Park in lower Manhattan on Wednesday. Christian Blackfeather Ruiz, 19, from Bronx, New York, searches for a spot to camp among participants in the Occupy Wall Street Protest at Zuccotti Park in lower Manhattan on Wednesday.

“We have to start by making Wall Street pay to undo the damage that has caused immeasurable suffering while the high rollers on Wall Street, who created this crisis, are rewarded with bailouts, bonuses, tax cuts, and regulatory rollbacks,” the executive director of National Nurses United, Roseann DeMoro, said.

NNU is the largest union and professional association of nurses in the U.S., with 170,000 members.

“I think they’re capturing a feel of disempowerment, feeling like nobody is listening to them,” said Camille Rivera, executive director of United

NY. “What do you do when no one is listening to you? You speak up, you take action.”

Greetings citizens of the world – Anon News

MoveOn.org is planning a “virtual march” on its website by encouraging people to post photos of themselves with the caption: “I’m the 99 per cent” — a reference to those people not among the wealthiest one per cent of Americans and the debate over whether they should be taxed more.

Anonymous: Is Invade Wall Street a false flag operation? National Examiner (Here’s another question — is this post itself designed to cast doubt on OWS?)

Monday, those claiming to represent the nebulous and notorious international Internet hacktivist collective known as Anonymous began promoting Operation Invade Wall Street, a planned DDoS (Distributed Denial of Service) attack against the New York Stock Echange set for October 10.
However, by Tuesday, many Anonymous enthusiasts began to question the authenticity and legitimacy of Operation Invade Wall Street. Tuesday, a significant source for all things Anonymous, AnonNews, linked to a statement denying the authenticity of Operation Wall Street, claiming the operation is most probably a false flag operation initiated by law enforcement officials in order to undermine Occupy Wall Street:

Citizens of the world

We are Anonymous! Recently something very disturbing has come to our attention. You must take all notices and information claiming to be ‘Anonymous’ with a grain of salt. Consider EVERYTHING.

Operation Invade Wall Street is bullshit! It is a fake planted operation by law enforcement and cyber crime agencies in order to get you to undermine the Occupy Wall Street movement. It proposes you use depreciated tools that have known flaws such as LOIC.

Anonymous would never tell you to use LOIC – Not after the arrests and failures of Operation Payback.

Anonymous wouldn’t attack NYSE on a HOLIDAY – It is debatable if Anonymous would ever even attack NYSE.

Be wary friends!

We are Anonymous

Occupy Wall Street Hits Connecticut Madison Patch

Protesters gathered before Bushnell Park in Hartford Wednesday morning to express their dissatisfaction with economic inequality.

The populist-themed, and increasingly popular, Occupy Wall Street movement hit Connecticut’s capital city on Wednesday, as dozens of protestors of all ages and races gathered before the entrance to Bushnell Park in Hartford to express their dissatisfaction with what they termed income inequality and corporate greed.

What started as a small gathering of a handful of protestors shortly after 8 a.m. Wednesday morning had swelled to a large and vocal group that numbered over a hundred less than an hour later — and the movement showed no signs of losing steam as the morning wore on and more and more people seemed to be drawn to the crowd.

“I haven’t been to a protest in years, but this brings me out because I am concerned,” said David Morse, a middle-aged Storrs resident who described himself as a freelance journalist who also owns and operates several rental properties. Morse wore a blue suit and tie and carried a sign that read, “Tax the Rich.” He said he was concerned that the income gap between the upper class and the middle class in America was causing irreparable harm not just to the economy but the welfare of the country.

For constitutional enthusiasts, the “Occupy Wall Street” movement offers a fascinating, dynamic test case of the First Amendment.

“Occupy” protesters have assembled nationwide to complain about corporate greed and malfeasance in many alleged hues. Here’s a WSJ report about a march yesterday in lower Manhattan that attracted thousands.

At issue, legally speaking, in city after city is the extent to which police can step in to try to contain or break up protests.

The First Amendment provides for the “right of the people peaceably to assemble.” The critical term here is “peaceable”; protesters can gather and air grievances, but they can’t unduly disrupt the peace.

‘Occupy Wall Street’ and the Constitution – Wall Street Journal law blog

At Occupy Wall Street, Call for Goldman Sachs to Take Crisis Backinnercitypress.com

As Foley Square filled with students and unionists and New Yorkers of all stripes on Wednesday afternoon, police helicopters hovered overhead and too many union leaders gave speeches. In the middle of the crowd drumming started, and chants of “JP Morgan, Goldman Sachs, take your crisis off our backs.”

Up in the front the speeches ranged from 32BJ, whose workers were laid off at the United Nations under Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, to Transportation Workers Union Local 100, which sued to try to stop its members from having to drive busses filled with arrested protesters, as Inner City Press covered on October 1. The lawsuit has failed, at least for now.

Finally past 5 pm the march started, snaking west on Chambers Street and south again on Broadway. It was slow going. Cutting out of the pen and behind the courthouses, office workers heading to the subway told Inner City Press, “I agree with them, mostly.” Some men in suits talked dismissively. But the crowd was larger than it seemed anyone expected.

Occupy Iowa group follows Wall Street protests – Daily Iowan

Local organizers say corporate greed doesn’t only impact those living in New York — it hits here in the Midwest as well.

A group of about 100 locals gathered on Wednseday night in hopes of bringing Occupy Wall Street-style protests to Iowa City. The group met at Public Space One discuss specifics of the event. The group came to the consensus the event will kick off concurrently with the Rally to End the War in Afghanistan at 4:30 p.m. Friday. Protesters will then march to College Green park at 6 p.m.

One of the group’s main concerns was how quickly they would act. With Friday being the 10th anniversary of the invasion of Afghanistan, most people who attended the meeting agreed it would be in their best interest to act sooner rather than later.

Tyler Anthony, who traveled from Waterloo to attend the event, agreed.

“It’s almost a strike-while-the-iron-is-hot kind of thing,” he said.

The event is intended to follow the format of the protests against Wall Street, which started Sept. 17. The protesters have likened their movement to the Arab Spring or a Tea Party movement, but with a liberal slant. Protesters call themselves “the 99 percent,” with Wall Street and other large business corporations being the 1 percent.

Some protesters stressed that Iowa City feels the effects of large corporations.

Occupy Wall Street effort coalesces in Salt Lake City -
Salt Lake Tribune

As the Occupy Wall Street protest movement and its offshoots gain strength nationwide, the Salt Lake City version is gearing up for a rally and downtown march Thursday before it sets up a base camp in Pioneer Park.

In less than three weeks, the grass-roots East Coast effort — folks ticked off by corporate greed, the bad economy and a government that doesn’t seem to listen — has mushroomed in size and scope.

Its message has reached the Wasatch Front, where members of the loosely organized Occupy SLC have approved guidelines aimed at governing the group’s upcoming “occupation” of Pioneer Park, although that act could prove problematic as it runs headlong into the city permitting process.

For starters, drug and alcohol use in the camp will be strongly discouraged. No weapons will be tolerated, although multitools and pocketknives will be allowed. Inciting violence — through actions, word or tone — is also taboo. And demonstrations will not be staged in the base camp or on streets surrounding the park at 350 S. 300 West.

William Rutledge says he is an Iraq war veteran who settled in Salt Lake City about two years ago. Rutledge, 30, is pursuing a second bachelor’s degree in history and is actively participating in the Occupy SLC effort.

“We’ve had 80 to 300 people at our nightly general assembly meetings,” Rutledge said. Those gatherings began late last week and have been conducted from 8 p.m. to 11 p.m. in the outside amphitheater at the Salt Lake City Library.

On Thursday, those sessions will shift to Pioneer Park after Thursday’s 10 a.m. rally at the State Capitol and 11 a.m. march through downtown to the park. The group has no “free-expression activity” permit for the march, and although one is not required, city officials said it would be helpful.

Also, a city ordinance prohibits overnight camping in parks. Rutledge said Occupy SLC is meeting with the American Civil Liberties Union and intends to stay as long as is legally possible.

Wall Street protesters to stage rallies in NJ – Wall Street Journal

Local protests against corporate America are planned in New Jersey as a show of solidarity with demonstrations that started last month outside the New York Stock Exchange.

Rallies are planned Thursday in Jersey City and at the Statehouse in Trenton. Protesters are expected to call for an end of what they say is corporate control of government.

The initial protests in New York, called Occupy Wall Street, started Sept. 17 and have since spread to other cities.

According to the Occupy New Jersey Facebook page, the New Jersey protests are slated to start at 2 p.m.

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