Revolt. VTD/Josh Larkin. Click image to view gallery.
Kate Duesterberg of Fairlee creates a protest sign in Montpelier. VTD/Josh Larkin
An estimated 300 people turned out in Montpelier for Occupy Vermont. VTD/Josh Larkin
On the steps of UVM's administration building. VTD/Greg Guma
Protesters read in unison in front of City Hall in Montpelier. VTD/Josh Larkin
The line of marcher snaked across campus. VTD/Greg Guma
Greed Stinks. VTD/Josh Larkin
Speaking out about Hospital negotiations on the green near Fletcher Allen. VTD/Greg Guma
We are the 99%. VTD/Josh Larkin
Protesters marched from City Hall to the Statehouse chanting "We are the 99%." VTD/Josh Larkin
Yes We Can. VTD/Josh Larkin
Occupy. VTD/Josh Larkin
Seeking Justice. VTD/Josh Larkin
Jail for the Banksters. VTD/Josh Larkin
Heather Pipino of Barre leads protesters on the Statehouse steps. VTD/Josh Larkin
More than 500 people rallied and marched for almost two hours in Burlington, ultimately taking the demonstration’s jobs and justice message onto the University of Vermont campus. In Montpelier, approximately 300 turned out to shout that message from the steps of City Hall and the Statehouse.
By 2 p.m. a large crowd had gathered at City Hall Park in Burlington, including many who have been coming out for Occupy protests on Sundays in Burlington, joined by union members from UVM and Fletcher Allen Hospital. Following some music and reports in the movement’s living loudspeaker style, Fletcher Allen staff in contract negotiations asked those who had gathered to march from downtown to the university campus to show solidarity. The consensus was an immediate yes.
Around 300 people made the 15-minute trek uphill to UVM and the hospital. Their first stop was the university’s Waterman Administration Building for more impromptu speeches and chanting in support of a fair contract. From there they proceeded across the main campus (photo 4) and arrived at the green near Fletcher Allen shortly before 3:30, where they continued to share stories and grievances as rain began to fall.
At 3 p.m. in Montpelier, protesters gathered on the steps of City Hall to voice their frustration with corporate hand-outs, tax cuts for the wealthy and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Chanting “We are the 99%,” the group marched en masse down Main and State Streets, where they convened on the Statehouse steps to continue their demonstration in the form of public testimonials, spoken and repeated by the crowd.
The Occupy movement’s Vermont contingent gathered in Burlington again on Sunday. Spokespersons pledged to organize a People’s Assembly at 2 p.m. and to begin hammering out a specific agenda that “gets stuff done.”
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Over 100 in Brattleboro as well!
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And maybe 50 in Rutland. We should have been in front of the Walmart, but that was verbotten. There were some great signs held by all ages, singing and the living loudspeaker! Then we went to the great Rutland Farmer’s Market. Something has got to give, and the group is onto something.
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I was teenager in the early 80s, and I always wished for protests like the ones from my early childhood that I heard about and heard the neighbors kids talking about participating in.
I got very emotional while we were marching in Montpelier on Saturday, and I felt similarly when I stood in January to support the unions and Wisconsin’s struggles. I am at once excited and a bit frightened that we’re marching, and that it’s expanding through the country. Excited because people are waking up. Frightened because of the potential retaliation, or that it’s all going to be for nothing, and everyone will go to sleep again.
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I was in Saturday’s march in Montpelier. I was pretty ill then with some kind of crud that I got the day before, so just marched along, chanted, then sat on the steps and tried to hold it together. A generation ago I was one of the millions out there protesting the Vietnam war. My participation really got started when Nixon invaded Cambodia and the country went insane. I remember a melee in Harvard Square where my friends (one of them had a brother killed in Cambodia. He was just nineteen) and I got tear-gassed. Despite how sick I was, Saturday’s march felt like those old times without the melee.
It took ten years of violent protesting to end that war. It took a decade of protesting for afro-americans simply to get the right to vote. I am afraid that this could take some time as well and that the authorities will start fighting back. This is a direct assault on the power of Wall Street and the corporations that run our federal and state governments and they will not let it go so easily. I suspect that the tear gas will start flowing and the billy clubs swinging before long. Yet, while marching down State Street, I felt that old spirit of a people on the march flowing through my fever-wracked body. Who knows how long this will last, but it felt awful good.