Grasping tightly onto signs, sweat soaking their brows and backs, a group of protesters marched through the heart of New Orleans on Thursday shouting, “Whose street? Our street!”
Nearly a thousand members of the Occupy New Orleans movement walked through Central Business District streets as police blocked cars from passing through.
But New Orleans protesters were only a small percentage of a movement that has seen thousands of arrests in cities across the United States.
Occupy Wall Street, held in the streets of New York City, began Sept. 17 and has continued to gain support despite alleged police brutality and mass arrests.
The heart of the movement is dissatisfaction with the current economic state of the U.S., targeting large corporations, wealthy Americans and politicians.
Protests similar to those in New York and New Orleans have appeared across the country in San Francisco, Chicago, Atlanta and even Lake Charles.
Members of the movement often identify themselves as the “99 percent” of Americans who are not overtly wealthy. Many of the “99 percent” have taken their cause to the Internet, posting pictures and stories detailing unemployment and difficulty supporting families.
Members of the New Orleans protest crowd ranged from college students and young professionals to children and the elderly.
Many could be heard chanting “this is what democracy looks like” and denying political affiliation, claiming the movement “is just people coming step.”
Jillian Chrisman and Sara Mulholland, both seeking master’s degrees in education at the University of New Orleans, said they fear the combination of high student debt and low income for teachers will trouble them later in life.
“I’ll have student debt until I’m 50,” Mulholland said.
The youth have played a large part in the national movement, not only as students but as a generation that will have to deal with a national debt and elders without Social Security, Chrisman said.
“It’s our future we’re defending,” said Genevieve Vegetable, Tulane University public health graduate student. “There’s an enormous burden on our generation.”
Vegetable said New Orleans has felt the “brunt of corporations” in a country where “Medicare is a fantasy.”
Protesters walked to Lafayette Square to protest the Federal Reserve Building nearby. The members took turns speaking to the crowd, including a woman who performed poetry and a college student calling fellow youth into action.
A man with a megaphone began chanting, “Wall Street says cut back. We say fight back.” A trio with a drum, trumpet and saxophone crafted a melody, leading protesters in loud song as workers emerged from downtown buildings to observe the crowded streets.
“We don’t work for the government,” one woman told the crowd. “They are here to work for us.”
The group eventually moved to Duncan Plaza in front of New Orleans City Hall, where they intend to occupy indefinitely.
 
 
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Contact Brian Sibille at [email protected]