NEW YORK—“I, like the majority of our country, think that we are on the wrong track,” said Patrick Bruner, 23, from Brooklyn. Bruner was one of about 300 protesters in Lower Manhattan on Sunday, some of whom slept in nearby Zucotti Park after the first day of the “Occupy Wall Street” protest that had begun on Saturday, Sept. 17.
“We’ve been living in a society that no one thinks is working, and it’s unacceptable. So we’re here, we’re representing the 99 percent of Americans whose voices are never heard,” continued Bruner.
The protesters, who identified themselves as “the 99 percent,” did not single out any particular issue, but rather echoed the despair found in many newspaper headlines over the past weeks: Unemployment is rising; poverty levels are up; corporate CEOs are making more in bonuses than their companies pay in taxes.
“We are getting kicked out of our homes. We are forced to choose between groceries and rent. We are denied quality medical care. We are suffering from environmental pollution. We are working long hours for little pay and no rights, if we’re working at all. We are getting nothing, while the other 1 percent is getting everything. We are the 99 percent,” reads a statement from the group’s blog.
Only 300 people remained at the park, about 500 feet from Wall Street, on Sunday. The group camped out in the park overnight because the police had blocked all routes to Wall Street prior to the event.
“I believe the democratic process belongs to all of us and not just those of us who are rich enough to pay for their voice,” asserted Jason Bookman, 23, of Manhattan, a media representative for the protest.
According to Bookman, the Facebook groups associated with the protest have been repeatedly deleted in the time leading up to the event.
“This park is called Zucotti Park now, but it used to be called Liberty Park Plaza, which is kind of interesting. That’s the same word as ‘Tahrir’ in Egyptian,” noted Nathan Schneider, 27. Tahrir Square in downtown Cairo, Egypt, was the focal point of the Egyptian revolution earlier this year.
The “Occupy Wall Street” protest organizers originally planned to stay on Wall Street until Dec. 31. It is currently unknown how long the protest will continue. Many people brought sleeping bags to stay at the park overnight. Some fear that the police will remove them from the space, given that the financial district returns to work on Monday.
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