Occupy Atlanta draws newcomers to protest

By Bo Emerson
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Several hundred members of the protest group Occupy Atlanta gathered in downtown's Woodruff Park Friday evening to voice opposition to corporate greed, the war in Afghanistan and a grab bag of other grievances.

The unstructured group is an outgrowth of a groundswell of protests in hundreds of cities around the country, from Manhattan to Newnan, growing from the Occupy Wall Street demonstrations that began last month.

The protests were timed for the 10th anniversary of the war in Afghanistan, with demonstrators mounting banners and handing out fliers urging passersby to resist the war.

http://www.ajc.com/news/georgia-politics-elections/occupy-atlanta-draws-newcomers-1196718.html

I got there about 11:00 AM and frankly I was less then impressed. There were about 40 tents and maybe 100 people who really weren't doing anything. I spoke to a woman from KSU who had spent the night and looked cold and tired. I spoke to a man wearing a Georgia Southern shirt who was very enthused but most people were just laying around. There was a bit of yoga by maybe 30 people for 20 minutes but no music speeches or much attempt at interacting with curious passersby. Neither of the two could tell me what the demands were.

When we left I ran into roadblocks because of Atlanta Pride. The radio was talking 60,000 people for that and I saw boatloads of people. I'm sure that Occupy Atlanta got bigger in the afternoon but I'm also sure that Atlanta Pride did as well.

60,000 versus 100. 60,000 is more.