3,000 ‘Occupy’ Protesters Descend On Rose Parade

About 3,000 demonstrators with the Occupy Wall Street movement held a protest at the end of the Tournament of Roses Parade, in hopes of spreading their message that the nation’s foreclosure crisis is out of control and there is too much corporate money in politics.

Occupy the Rose Parade coordinators said they had three meetings with Pasadena Police Department officials, and both sides are satisfied with plans for the event.

Police gave demonstrators permission to march after the last official Rose Parade float and behind police escorts. Pasadena police declined to issue a permit for an organized Occupy the Rose Parade news conference, but told Occupy organizers they would not stop plans for the group to use amplifiers during a gathering at Pasadena City Hall after the march.

“They have stated that they are not interested, nor do they intend to disrupt the parade, to act in a criminal or malicious behavior. They simply want to follow the parade as discussed in many of our meetings,” Pasadena Police Chief Phillip Sanchez said.

Organizers said they had expected as many as 1,000 marchers, but current estimates place the number between 3,000 and 4,000. They said the march will include four main sculptural elements in an attempt to show what they say is the devolution of the nation’s government — from one originally founded and controlled by “the people” to a government controlled by corporations.

March organizer David Cutter said the visuals include a large replica of the U.S. Constitution signed by “We the People,” followed by another one signed by “We the Corporations.” A giant octopus representing the stranglehold Wall Street banks have on the public will follow, he said. A group of 99 people holding up the an image of the “1 percent” in a throne will be the final main visual in the procession.

They will be joined by Latino and immigrant rights activists who will display a 40 by 4-foot banner with one printed on it: “Legalization,” according to organizer Javier Rodriguez.

Occupy protester Mark Lipman said the media had “done a good job putting a fear factor in people’s minds of what they can expect from us, but we are a peaceful, nonviolent movement, and we’re a very creative movement.”

He said there were no surprises planned during the march.

“We’re going to do what we’re going to do within the general decorum of what else is going on during the parade, because we understand the tradition of 123 years that people are looking forward to enjoying,” Lipman said. “And we don’t want to disrupt that in any way.”

However, Lipman said, protesters would not shy away from controversial subjects. He said the march will highlight the role of Wells Fargo, a Rose Parade sponsor, in the nation’s foreclosure crises.

“They don’t want you to see what they’re doing to average Americans when the cameras aren’t rolling,” he said.

He said the event is, in part, about the Occupy movement making a transition.

“Occupy in general is moving from a phase of occupying camps to something else, and nobody knows what the `else’ is,” Cutter said. “So, there’s something new being born.”