Occupy Phoenix Prelude March Draws Hundreds
A man chants along with the crowd at Collier Center in Phoenix.
By John Guzzon
Modern Times Magazine
Oct. 15, 2011 — The prelude to Occupy Phoenix hit the city’s downtown Friday afternoon, as several hundred people marched to a handful of corporate buildings, calling for the end of corporate influence over elected officials and the fleecing of regular Americans.
The crowd was an average sample of America: black and white, latino and asian, rich, poor and otherwise. Some wore Guy Fawkes masks, others wore bandannas over their faces.
Some hid nothing and vented their outrage.
The march began a little after 3 p.m. at the Downtown Phoenix Civic Space, 424 N. Central Ave., and ended at about 5 p.m. at Cesar Chavez Park, 201 W. Washington Street, where Occupy Phoenix will begin Saturday at noon.
View photo gallery of march
But on the way to the park, the group marched to several corporate landmarks, notably, the Chase Bank building, 201 North Central Ave., the Gannett building, 200 E. Van Buren Ave., and the Collier Center, 201 E. Washington Ave.
At the Chase Bank Building, marchers primarily stayed off the building’s grounds, and shouted slogans, such as, “We are the 99 percent,” which has become a standard chant since it was first used at Occupy Wall Street. References to the bank bailouts of 2008 were also heard. JPMorgan Chase received $25 billion from the Troubled Assets Relief Plan, or TARP.
JPMorgan Chase & Co. is a multinational banking corporation of securities, investments and retail. It is a major provider of financial services, with assets of $2 trillion and according to Forbes magazine is the world's largest public company.
At the Gannett building, home to the Arizona Republic, KPNX, Channel 12, azcentral.com and a variety of other Gannett properties, protesters surrounded the street-level Channel 12 studio. The crowd shouted slogans until a camera man and a few members of the news staff exited the building and were told, “quit your job!” by the protesters.
Gannett Company, Inc. is a publicly-traded media holding company headquartered in Virginia. It is the largest U.S. newspaper publisher as measured by total daily circulation. Its assets include the national newspaper USA Today. Its largest non-national newspaper is The Arizona Republic.
From the Gannett building, the marchers moved on to Collier Center, home of the Bank Of America building. The marchers surrounded the branch located on the second floor of the Collier Center and shouted slogans for several minutes, including, “They got bailed out … we got sold out.”
View photo gallery of march
But perhaps the most unified chant of the afternoon was, “the people, united, will never be divided.”
Bank of America is a multinational banking and financial services corporation and the largest bank holding company in the United States by assets, and the second largest bank by market capitalization.
The protestors moved away from Collier Center, shouting, “this is just the beginning.”
Phoenix police were omnipresent throughout the march and after the protesters settled into Cesar Chavez Plaza. Two officers, including Det. Chris Wilson of the Community Response Squad led the march most of the way.
There were no reports of vandalism, violence or trespassing.
Saturday at noon, the occupation will begin in Cesar Chavez Park. As of Friday night, more than 2,500 had said on Facebook that they would attend. Approximately 250 said they would attend the march Friday, a low estimate to the actual attendance.
The Occupy Phoenix Twitter account is http://twitter.com/#!/occupyphoenix and the Facebook page is http://www.facebook.com/occupyphoenix. A website has also been published, http://occupyphoenix.net/.
MoveOn.org is hosting a joint “Jobs Not Cuts” event at the plaza at about 10 a.m., calling for job creation and the preservation of vital social services.
Rebecca Friend, of the Arizona AFL-CIO will be speaking briefly at the event. The AFL-CIO said Friday that their presence at Occupy Phoenix is a merely a show of support.
John Guzzon is editor of Modern Times Magazine.
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