9:18 p.m. PST, November 17, 2011
An estimated 600 demonstrators from the Occupy movement — some carrying signs that read “Jobs, Not Cuts” — held a march and rally in Seattle Thursday to coincide with similar demonstrations in other U.S. cities. The protest went peacefully.
“Everything that has changed the course of history has happened when people got tired of injustice, and united,” said protester Justin Czapiewski.
Occupy protesters across the country called Thursday the “day of action.”
Thousands mobilized in New York and Los Angeles and other cities — marching against what they call corporate America’s unfair influence on the government.
In Seattle, union members, teachers, educators, students, nurses, those who can’t find a job and those who have no home, marched from the University of Washington campus to rally on University Bridge.
“These are peaceful people trying to ask or beg or plead or hold a march to get their rights back, to get their opportunity to work back, to get their opportunity to have a house, to have an education,” said demonstrator Doug Gee. “That’s what they want here.”
The goal was to protest what the group called economic inequities in the country, where they say 99 percent of the people face an economic emergency while the other 1 percent hold the greatest amount of wealth.
“We all came out specifically to rally (against) … the cuts to financial aid and the education system,” said first-time protester Chris Schuett.
Another, Suzanna Ferris, said she’s been employed for more than two years.
“I’m sort of used to living below the poverty line,” she said. “I’m not scared, I’m mad. I just want something to happen that’s different for everybody in my situation.”
Czapiewski said, “People need jobs to provide for their family. It’s a matter of livelihood and when people’s livelihood is put in jeopardy, what can we do but stand up in solidarity and make something happen?”
The demonstrators called on Congress and the state legislature to ease the economic crisis by making investments in infrastructure, transportation, education and health care.
The last march in Seattle did not go so peacefully. Several Occupy Seattle marchers were pepper sprayed by police Tuesday night, including an 84-year-old woman, and six people were arrested. Seattle Mayor Mike McGinn apologized Wednesday to those who were pepper sprayed and ordered the police to review their procedures.
