At around 6 a.m. Friday, Occupy Wall Street West began its day-long, rain-soaked protest, which, if all goes according to plan, will disrupt business as usual in San Francisco's Financial District. First on the agenda, at least according to the OWSW itinerary, was to fry up some squid in front of Goldman Sachs. Why? Well, as OSW points, "[b]ack in 2009 Matt Taibbi referred to Goldman Sachs as 'a great vampire squid wrapped around the face of humanity, relentlessly jamming its blood funnel into anything that smells like money.' "
Today's protest, as OWSW notes, "will stop business as usual in the San Francisco Financial District and the Federal Courts that protect corporate interests."
Other events planned for the day include: a sit-in in front of Bechtel (45 Beale Street), something called a "carnival against capitalism: im/mobile street part" (Market and Drumm), "creative action" at Wells Fargo (420 Montgomery) featuring "street theatre and high energy chanting," and more. Visit Occupy Wall Street West's schedule of events for more details.
Alert SF sent out the following message this morning: "Occupy Wall Street West demonstrations will take place throughout the day in the Financial and South of Market Districts; culminating with a march from Justin Herman Plaza to the United Nations Plaza this evening. The San Francisco Police and Sheriff's Departments will be on-hand to ensure the event is peaceful. It is unknown how many people will take part in the demonstrations. The demonstrators have the potential to disrupt the evening commute along Market Street. Please consider alternate commuting routes."
If you are at work or at home and cannot attend today's festivities, please check out SFSU Journalism School professor Justin Beck's live video stream the Occupy Wall Street West demonstrations. So far we see a band playing, fire trucks and cops, and loads of protesters holding signs and chanting, "We are the 99%" and "We are Occupy, We are never gonna die, Every time you beat us down, We are gonna multiply!"
SFist will continue to update throughout the day.
Update 8:50: According to Beck, "Occupiers blocking BofA entrance at 345 Montgomery." Said occupados are also speaking some sort of mantra or prayer or chant right now. Anyway, you can't get into that BofA today.
9:05: Martha Graham is the inspiration (or so we want to believe!) for this black blog-like performance piece oozing around Occupy Wall Street West today. We're sure it's ripe with meaning, of course, but we'll allow you to interpret it for yourselves. Martha would've wanted it that way.
9:15: Scores of employees stuck in the rain outside BofA. Why won't their managers just send them home? Seems cruel to leave workerbees out in the rain.
9:20: Drama! Riot police have arrived at the scene.
10:40: A dance party has broken out with horrible rave music. Ugh.
11:00: Some sort of skirmish on California Street with protesters. One surly protester got bonked with a police baton. But the scene fizzled soon thereafter. Cops are pushing people. Things appear to be heating up. Arrests being made.
11:33: Somebody is playing Nelly Furtado's "Say It Right."
12:55: Lots of yelling and shit talk about cops.
1:29: Protesters briefly using Snonymous' slogan about not forgiving or forgetting. Huh. Seems a but off-putting for a group allegedly trying to gain a larger following, but there you have it.
7:40: According to a slew of occupiers on Twitter, police have pepper sprayed non-violent protesters. Also, several occupiers have taken over Cathedral Hill Hotel.
8:07: For another choice livestream, check out punkboyinsf:
Streaming video by Ustream
