Anti-Corporate Protesters Plan to Occupy Berkeley

Across the country, demonstrators have been "occupying" cities — marching and rallying against the corporate greed protesters say has corrupted America. 

The Occupy Wall Street movement is a "leaderless resistance" composed of the "99% that will no longer tolerate the greed and corruption of the 1%," according to the Occupy Wall Street website. The marches that began in New York soon spread to Chicago and Boston, and then California, with protesters in Los Angeles camping outside City Hall. Occupy San Francisco is planning a solidarity march on Wednesday, Oct. 5, and Occupy Oakland is holding a planning meeting 1 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 4 in Mosswood Park. 

On Saturday, Oct. 15, the Occupy Wall Street movement comes to Berkeley. The Occupy Berkeley group will hold a planning meeting at noon on Saturday, Oct. 8 outside the Bank of America downtown where the protest will be held.

Organizers have released the following statement:

OCCUPY BERKELEY in support of OCCUPY WALL STREET sponsors the first Berkeley General Assembly and peaceful rally

When: Planning meeting, Saturday, 8 October 2011, at noon. Occupy Berkeley, Saturday, 15 October, at noon. 
Where: Downtown Berkeley, CA, at the  (at the corner of Shattuck and Center Streets)

WE WILL BE PROTESTING THE GLOBAL FINANCIAL CRISIS THAT HAS BEEN
PERPETRATED BY CORPORATE AMERICA IN COLLUSION WITH THE AMERICAN
GOVERNMENT! Occupy Berkeley exists to help organize, publicize, and
support the growing number of communities that are showing support for
the Occupy Wall Street movement. We especially support our Global
Community in social and economic 'Justice For All'-- WE ARE PEACEFUL.

WE SUPPORT THE FOLLOWING STATEMENT FROM FROM OCCUPY WALL STREET:
As we gather together in solidarity to express a feeling of mass
injustice, we must not lose sight of what brought us together. We
write so that all people who feel wronged by the corporate forces of
the world can know that we are your allies.

As one people, united, we acknowledge the reality: that the future of
the human race requires the cooperation of its members; that our
system must protect our rights, and upon corruption of that system, it
is up to the individuals to protect their own rights, and those of
their neighbors; that a democratic government derives its just power
from the people, but corporations do not seek consent to extract
wealth from the people and the Earth; and that no true democracy is
attainable when the process is determined by economic power. We come
to you at a time when corporations, which place profit over people,
self-interest over justice, and oppression over equality, run our
governments. We have peaceably assembled here, as is our right, to let
these facts be known.