Occupy Atlanta planning march on Bank of America HQ

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Occupy Atlanta planning march on Bank of America HQ
October 11, 2011
By Mike Morris and Christian Boone
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

The activists encamped at Woodruff Park plan to leave Tuesday afternoon for a protest march to a downtown Atlanta bank headquarters, but vowed in an e-mail to return to the park and remain there "for as long as it takes."
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A group of more than 100 calling themselves Occupy Atlanta protesters set up a barricade around their tent city as they gathered in Woodruff Park in Atlanta on Monday, Oct. 10, 2011.
Curtis Compton, ccompton@ajc.com A group of more than 100 calling themselves Occupy Atlanta protesters set up a barricade around their tent city as they gathered in Woodruff Park in Atlanta on Monday, Oct. 10, 2011.
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The group's vow to stay at the park comes after being told Monday night that they were violating city rules prohibiting remaining in city parks after 11 p.m.

Occupy Atlanta organizers said in an e-mail that at 4:30 p.m. Tuesday, the group would march from the park up Peachtree Street for a protest at the Bank of America headquarters at 600 Peachtree.

"While the group has not posted formal demands, owing to its desire to represent a multiplicity of points of view, participants are united in their anger over the government's willingness to bail out banks but inability to offer the same assistance to private citizens," organizers said in the e-mail to the AJC and other media outlets.

Late Tuesday morning, the number of protesters at the park had dwindled to around 75, with several dozen tents still pitched on the park's grass. Those remaining on Tuesday morning were low-key, not chanting or carrying the protest signs that were seen on Monday.

An anticipated showdown between the protesters and police never materialized, as authorities made no effort to forcibly remove the group.

"We're allowing the protesters the opportunity to leave the park peacefully," Candace Byrd, Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed's chief of staff, said Monday night.

But no deadline was given at the impromptu press conference, and overnight police presence around the park was minimal. Meanwhile, Occupy Atlanta organizers encouraged the protesters to remain through the morning.

"If we can keep the crowd up we can hold the park," said Phil Aliff, 25, a student at Kennesaw State University.

It's uncertain how long the city will allow the group to stay. Byrd said officials held two meetings Monday with protest organizers to inform them of ordinances preventing "urban camping."

Rumors began spreading Monday that police were going to enforce those laws but so far no arrests have been made.

"I'd love to get arrested, but I feel I can do a lot more from the outside," said Sean Phillips, 21, a student at Georgia State University.

Occupy Atlanta, rallying against corporate greed and the war in Afghanistan, set up stakes in the park Friday night. The crowd's size varied through the weekend.

The protesters, who claim solidarity with a group encamped in New York's Zucotti Park since mid-September, attracted national headlines over the weekend when it voted against letting civil rights icon John Lewis address the crowd. They've since offered the Democratic representative a chance to speak Friday -- assuming they hold the park.

The national Occupy Wall Street movement has been heating up again — resulting in about 50 arrests in Boston and plans for a Manhattan "Millionaires March" to the homes of some of the city's wealthiest residents.

The Occupy Boston arrests occurred early Tuesday. Police say the protesters ignored warnings to move from a downtown greenway near the place where they've been camping for more than a week.

During the New York City march, protesters will bear oversize checks. They're intended to symbolize how much less the wealthy will pay when New York's 2 percent "millionaires' tax" expires in December.

The Daily News says the marchers plan to visit the homes of News Corp. CEO Rupert Murdoch, JP Morgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon and oil tycoon David Koch.

Staff photographer John Spink and the Associated Press contributed to this article.