Students and residents living in Gainesville joined the Occupy Wall Street movement this week.
Occupy Wall Street has been gaining momentum all over the country, including in Florida. Last week Jacksonville, Fort Lauderdale, Miami and others saw demonstrations in solidarity with the New York-based movement.
Paul Crucet, a student at the University of Florida who attended parts of the Gainesville event, tells The Florida Independent that the rally consisted of about 50 people standing on the sidewalks β many holding up signs. The event got started early on Wednesday, at around 8 a.m., with the protesters picketing City Hall.
The Independent Florida Alligator reported:
At first, the plaza was the scene of the meeting, but once the crowd became too large it moved across the street to the front of City Hall.
βWe have no country in a sense,β said Jesse Schmidt, a Gainesville activist.
He described the Occupy Gainesville protest as a revival of the fight against multinational corporations.
βWe are standing with brothers and sisters all over the world,β Schmidt said.
While the movement is not led by anyone in particular, multiple organizations are involved.
Gainesville News reported that there were also protests taking place at Bank of America.
