If San Francisco's Occupy enthusiasts take their cues from Occupy Wall Street today in ringing in the first anniversary of the movement, you should be able to expect some traffic disruption, fresh street encampments, and possible arrests today, especially around the Financial District. A small encampment sprouted last night at California and Kearny bearing signs for Occupy Bay Area United.
Their focus is the protest of high-frequency trading and the power of financial institutions in general, but as Occupier Beth Seligman told NBC Bay Area early this morning, the movement has segmented into specific causes. The group that works solely on stopping foreclosures is hosting a march that kicks off at noon at the War Memorial Building. So the schedule looks something like this:
Noon: War Memorial Building gathering/protest
1 p.m. - 2 p.m.: "Mobile Street Party" at Justin Herman Plaza which may move later
2 p.m. to 4 p.m.: A separate protest will be happening in the Castro beginning at 18th and Castro and moving toward a sit-in to protest foreclosures at Harvey Milk Plaza
3 p.m. to 4:30 p.m.: Group is bringing trash bags to protest Fortress Investment Group at One Market, a symbolic protest of the "Financial Services Garbage Collection" strategy started by Peter Briger, who's focused his business on collections of bad debts like houses in foreclosure, defaulted student loans, etc.
4 p.m. A 'Compost Your Debt' event starts at PG&E (Market and Spear), and will move toward the main event at 555 California.
5 p.m. - The main anniversary protest begins outside 555 California Street. They will then march
6 p.m. to 8 p.m. - Street party and sit-in at California and Montgomery. People are encouraged to bring food, and blankets to sit on, and it's BYOD (Bring Your Own Debt Papers), with a symbolic debt burning event taking place. They'll also be showing guerrilla movies from last year's protest events.
We'll update you later in the day as events unfold, and as always, please feel free to share your photos by tagging them "sfist" on Flickr.
[NBC]
Previously: Occupy Anniversary Just Might Ruin Your Monday Commute
