PROTEST ECHOES NATIONAL MOVEMENTS

NIC STUDENTS HELP ORGANIIZE 99% Rally

Coeur d’Alene got a taste of the national phenomenon known as “occupy Wall Street” when approximately 100 people gathered to demonstrate support for the cause and peacefully protest in Coeur d’Alene Oct 15.

Touting signs proclaiming “No More Bailouts,” ”Greed Sucks”  and “I can’t afford a politician, so I made this sign. Honk if you’re MAD,”students and senior citizens alike showed up in one-hour shifts all day to voice their opinions and publicly support the cause.

“We’ve been headed in the wrong direction for a while; it’s time for us to stand up and make a real chance,” said Joshua Grise, Occupy Coeur d’Alene coordinator. “Corporations shouldn’t make policy, people make policy. We have got to change it now.”

The Occupy Wall Street movement has stretched its borders far beyond New York City’s Wall Street, sparking uprisings in almost every major city nationwide.

Most of the protests in the United States here remained nonviolent, though reports of police brutality and potential lawsuits are making national news.

“This is a nonpartisan movement,” said Maren Elizabeth Grace, 17, business administration, Coeur d’Alene, “just a collection of people from all walks of life who have a single common thread: a sense of discontent with the way our country is being run, and the desire to change it.”

Grace, Grise’s friend said she jumped in to help plan the first protest. She said those who arranged it hope to set it up so whoever wants to participate can join every Saturday, without the chaos of organization.

Occupy Coeur d’Alene can be found on Facebook; the page lists the following statement as one of it’s core beliefs.

“A democratic government derives its just power from the people, but corporations do not seek consent to extract wealth from the people and the earth; no true democracy is attainable when the process is determined by economic power.”