About 10 Brown students joined members of Occupy Providence in a march on City Hall and the Providence Public Safety Complex Tuesday in response to the eviction of Occupy Wall Street protesters from Zuccotti Park in New York City early that morning.
The impromptu march — which began at 4:30 p.m. and continued for about an hour — started in Burnside Park. Protesters walked to City Hall and the public safety complex before returning to the park, chanting slogans such as "this is what democracy looks like" and "banks got bailed out, we got sold out." Several cited solidarity not only with Wall Street protesters but also with Occupy movements in Oakland, Philadelphia, Albany and Vancouver.
"Occupy Wall Street was brutally attacked by the New York City police and Mayor Bloomberg," one protester alleged, adding that the marchers were there "to stand in solidarity with our sisters and brothers" in New York.
During the march, the New York Supreme Court delivered its decision to back Bloomberg's order that protestors could not camp in the park. Police raided the park at 1 a.m. Tuesday. The police took down tents and arrested over 100 people, including protesters and journalists reporting on the movement.
Outside City Hall, one protester said though the city of Providence has cooperated with the movement, Occupiers still have reason to be skeptical of city officials' help or support. The protesters will not leave until they have seen evidence of change, he said. "We're going to be out in the park as long as it takes," he said.
Mary Alice Reilly '13 said she is not heavily involved in the Occupy movement, but she does deliver food to Burnside Park from the Brown Market Shares program. She joined the march after receiving an email from Occupy College Hill members."I'm just glad to be able to throw a body here," she said.
Protesters specifically criticized the alleged Verizon bailout, Mayor Angel Taveras' decision to close four Providence schools and police brutality against "peaceful protesters" in other Occupy movements.
Providence resident Andrew Stewart criticized the "Republican" media, specifically targeting the Providence Journal. "We need to get off of relying on corporate media to feed us our information," Stewart said outside the public safety complex. "Only then, when we liberate our minds, will the liberation come."
