Occupy Berkeley Takes to the Streets

Following the sound of bongo drums, around 200 Occupy Berkeley protestors in the warm Saturday afternoon sun.

Holding signs reading "Arrest the Bankers," "This is Not a Recession, It's a Robbery" and "Tax the Wealthy — the One Percent," the marchers garnered many stares and a few waves from Farmer's Market shoppers on Center Street, families lounging in Civic Center Park and honks from drivers on University Avenue.

"We are here protesting peacefully today because we have recognized that there is a problem," a young man spoke into a microphone before the Bank of America at Shattuck and Center, the protestors' headquarters .

"Let's revive the spirit that once radiated through the city of Berkeley," he cried.  "A spirit of revolution. A spirit of activism. A spirit of change."

Photographers and videographers swarmed around the group, looking for the best shot as the occupiers left the Bank of America, crossing Shattuck Avenue by Downtown Berkeley BART. "The best shot is in the middle of the street," one photographer shared, gesturing toward Shattuck's center island.

"The people will never be divided!" the marchers chanted. "We are the 99 percent!"

A handful of Berkeley Police officers on bicycles slowly circled the street, watching but keeping their distance from the marchers. At least two police officers on motorcycles blocked vehicles from entering intersections so the massive group of protestors could cross streets safely.

From the outset of the short march — two slow laps around Civic Center Park — the crowd seemed to swell. The protestors tried to guess the number of their ranks. "How many people do you think are back there?" a man asked, glancing back over his shoulder at a group of marchers who'd fallen behind the rest of the pack. "Are they just stragglers?"

"No, they go all the way around the block," a woman answered.

Despite the size of the crowd, it was only a slight disruption to shoppers and strollers on the Saturday afternoon. Few spectators offered barbs. "One percent, one percent!" one man hollered, skipping beside the marchers and forcibly high-fiving a protestor who wore an American flag as a cape.

"You guys are making me so mad right now," groaned a street person in front of Wells Fargo on Shattuck, glaring into the crowd.

But the protestors were mostly well-received. A man stood on the sidelines for an hour, waving his Boston Red Socks cap in support. "I am the 99 percent!" he yelled over and over.

An hour into their demonstration, the marchers somehow got split up, glancing across Allston and Milvia streets at each other in confusion. "Hey, where'd they come from?" said a protestor belonging to a group from the , dressed in white gowns and carrying a cross near the back of the march. "Now we're in the front!" they said gleefully, crossing the street to Civic Center Park.

At the park, the protestors took a rest stop to reconvene. "We will occupy this park!" they cried. And then they were off again.

During the demonstration, Berkeley residents were joined by Oakland residents and people from even farther away. "We live up north and we come to Berkeley every two weeks to buy groceries," said Hunter Wallof, walking somberly with his daughter and their dog. "I heard there was going to be a protest and I certainly wanted to be part of it."

"Let's go home now?" the girl asked politely.

"I used to live in Berkeley," Wallof said. "I left the country for a few years and I couldn't [afford to] rent a garage here when I came back."

"We got sold out, banks got bailed out!" the protestors chanted.

Ten minutes after 1 p.m., the crowd returned to its quarters at Bank of America, and protestors took to the mic to share their reasons for occupying Berkeley. Women gave away freshly baked chocolate chip cookies and "Occu-Pies." New members were taught hand signals and a flyer explaining the history and purpose of the movement, titled "The Awakening in America," was passed out. A few protestors fretted over a lost donations jar.

"I'm here because it's OK to spend a trillion dollars on the millitary industrial complex, but it's not OK to have healthcare for everybody — that's socialism!" a woman said at the mic.

Others called for student debt relief, campaign finance reform, and a crack down on the real estate market and lending. "Bankers are people, too," a speaker said. "Banks are not!"

"On Wall Street, there are many good people," said a woman who told the crowd she used to work on the infamous street. "But they do not get ahead. So I ended up teaching at-risk kids in Richmond and Oakland."

"I was so poor, I had to live in my kitchen so my kids could have the bedroom," she said. The crowd functioned as a "people's mic," repeating her words in unison. Speaking of the dilapidated schools she worked in, "it couldn't have been any more different than Wall Street," the woman said. "Nobody needs $500 million in salary. Money needs to be shared."

Before the crowd thinned after 2 p.m., another speaker stood before the crowd dressed in red, white and blue. "Obama came along and I thought, 'redemption at last!' she said. "What a disappointment that was."

"It's up to us folks!" she said.

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