More than 100 protesters marched through downtown Phoenix to Civic Space Park Saturday, stopping at Chase Tower, Bank of America and Freeport-McMoRan Copper and Gold along the way.
The march concluded with a daylong UnityFest, an event sympathizing with the Occupy movements, in the park. The event included live music, local art and “Under Arpaio,” a documentary critical of Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio.
“The major goal is to serve notice to the mega-banks that we have rights too and we will be transferring to financial institutions that don’t exploit average Americans,” said Diane D’Angelo, media volunteer for Occupy Phoenix.
At UnityFest, protesters were given the opportunity to publicly cut up their credit and debit cards.
“By transferring your money to a credit union or community bank you are helping your community,” she said.
The protesters marched east on Washington Street towards Bank of America while chanting slogans like “Banks got bailed out, we got sold out,” and “We are the 99 percent, you are the 99 percent.”
About a dozen Phoenix police officers on bicycles, motorcycles and on foot escorted the march throughout its entirety.
“Have respect for the (police). They are just here to keep us safe,” said Matthew Pence, an Occupy Tucson volunteer who came to Phoenix to lend a hand.
Occupy Tucson volunteers felt the need to come and help out in Phoenix, and they spent the night with the protesters, he said.
Despite the cold and rain, protesters are barred from sleeping on city property.
“They can wrap themselves in blankets to keep warm but they can’t close their eyes,” he said.
If people want to sleep, they have to step off city property and cannot use a blanket, he said.
Three people were arrested on Saturday, two for violating urban camping laws and one for a felony warrant, D’Angelo said.
All three were anarchists and not representative of the Occupy Phoenix movement, she added.
“I see a lot of disorganization here; people are not really understanding what it’s about in this movement,” Pence said.
“We really came up here to help teach them, not really take a lead role or anything like that, but try and get people in the general direction they need to go to get organized, to get the ball rolling here in Phoenix — this is a big place,” he said.
March organizers communicated via walkie-talkie during the walk and adhered to all traffic laws.
“This was all a work of progress for about two weeks now,” said Junior Rodriguez, an events organizer with Occupy Phoenix.
There were many different committees involved in making the march, and UnityFest was a success, he said.
Rodriguez led the actual march, directing which way to go, when to slow down and when to speed up. If the group got split at a light, he made sure they were uniform again.
When asked if he was going to cut up his bankcards, Rodriguez answered simply.
“I don’t believe in banks,” he said.
Contact the reporter at maxfield.barker@asu.edu
