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KPBS Midday Edition

Occupy Wall Street Comes To San Diego

Occupy Wall Street protestors and union members stage a protest near Wall Street in New York, October 5, 2011. The demonstrators are protesting bank bailouts, foreclosures and high unemployment from their encampment in the financial district of New York City.
Emmanuel Dunand
Occupy Wall Street protestors and union members stage a protest near Wall Street in New York, October 5, 2011. The demonstrators are protesting bank bailouts, foreclosures and high unemployment from their encampment in the financial district of New York City.
Occupy San Diego Gains Momentum
GuestsToby Benjamin, Web Developer and Community Organizer for Occupy San DiegoErik Bruvald of the Institute for Policy Research at National UniversityMurtaza Baxamusa, Middle-class Taxpayers Association of San Diego

KPBS Reporter Erik Anderson will cover the Occupy San Diego protest in downtown on Friday's show.

A loose-knit protest movement that formed in New York City several weeks ago to decry the perceived sins of banks, corporations, political elites and other power brokers will sprout at the opposite end of the nation today, according to organizers.

Members of "Occupy Together,'' a social network-driven campaign that began last month as a rally dubbed "Occupy Wall Street,'' plan to bring their messages of discontent to downtown San Diego this afternoon, organizers announced.

The grass-roots activists will gather at Children's Park in the Marina district, then march to Civic Center Plaza at City Hall for a demonstration "in protest of the global financial corruption currently invading politics, media and corporations, exemplified by the recent financial-industry meltdown and subsequent recession,'' according to the group's website.

The participants will "peacefully occupy'' the public courtyard until they get desired action from "all levels of government, including the city and county of San Diego, the state of California, the federal government and ... private and public banks and corporations,'' the announcement stated.

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Organizers did not immediately detail their self-described "list of demands.''

The protest will include marches, sit-ins, educational programs, "practice of the democratic process'' and "general assembly meetings wherein solutions to overlapping issues are identified,'' the group's online message asserted.

Ray Lutz, a spokesman for the local offshoot of the movement, encouraged San Diegans to take part.

"The Occupy Wall Street movement is sweeping across the country,'' he said. "People from all walks of life, political persuasions and occupations are joining together to demand that our economic system become more just. Join our movement. With you, we can bring about change.''

The "occupiers,'' many of them young adults, have gathered in recent weeks in dozens of cities, including Los Angeles. The rallies have been largely peaceful, though in New York some protesters have gotten into scuffles with police, and hundreds there have been arrested.

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Stories and comments from around San Diego on the 'Occupy Wall Street' movement coming to downtown.