Occupy Birmingham

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Occupy Birmingham logo.jpg

Occupy Birmingham is a group of Birmingham District residents who support the wider Occupy movement which gained notice in the U.S. with Occupy Wall Street in New York City. Like other Occupy groups, Occupy Birmingham takes "we are the 99%" as its slogan, a reference to the difference in wealth between the top 1% and all the remaining citizens of the United States. Though the group's goals are varied, it is primarily concerned with publicizing and combating political and corporate corruption which widens the gap between rich and poor and harms the public good.

The Birmingham group first began organizing in September 2011 and grew quickly through October. The group originally used a silhouette of Vulcan as their logo, replacing his spear point with an old-style radio microphone to represent "the voice of the 99%." This resulted in the Vulcan Park Foundation issuing a cease and desist letter. The group subsequently revamped their web site, omitting the Vulcan image.

Aside from public meetings in city parks, the first protest was held from 7:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. on October 13 in front of the Wells Fargo Tower and Regions Center at 5th Avenue North and 20th Street, two of the largest banks with major presences in the city. These protests became a daily occurrence and eventually led to a 24-hour-a-day occupation of the area, dubbed "People's Corner", starting in early November.

The next major protest was gathered at Railroad Park, marched to Five Points South, and then back to Railroad Park on October 15. It was part of the larger Global Day of Action for the Occupy movement and attracted around 300 protestors in Birmingham. On November 5, the group supported National Bank Transfer Day by marching from Railroad Park to the Southside Wells Fargo Bank branch where five of the 75 protestors closed their accounts.

In early December, Council member Johnathan Austin asked city attorneys and police officials to report on whether the demonstrators were abiding by city rules for demonstrations.

The "People's Corner" camp once accommodated as many as 250 protesters, maintained an ongoing participation of about 40, and was continuously occupied by at least one member of the group. It was dismantled by the city, without interference, on August 30, 2012.

Occupy Cullman

Another group, Occupy Cullman, rallied at Cullman's Heritage Park on November 17.

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External links

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