(PHILADELPHIA) MintPress – The second day of the Occupy National Gathering in Philadelphia ended with police confrontations in the streets, with preliminary reports indicating the arrest 26 protesters around 11 p.m., according to the Philadelphia Police Department (PPD).
Twenty of the protesters arrested were male and six were female, according to Officer Christine O’Brien, a spokesperson for the PPD. The activists were all charged on two summary counts of disorderly conduct and obstruction of a highway. The PPD has and will continue to release activists throughout the morning.
Sunday’s events followed an evening of confrontations with law enforcement officials, with one arrested Saturday evening by the Federal Park Service on an aggravated assault charge. The tension created Saturday evening with police caused Occupy National Gathering activists to change the game plan, redirecting daytime demonstrations and activities from Philadelphia’s famous Independence Mall to nearby Franklin Square.
Law enforcement officials had barricaded Independence Mall Saturday, denying protesters from entering with structures, a term that’s loosely defined, but included backpack tents and sleeping bags.
Historic Philadelphia, the non-profit organization that operates Franklin Square, said Sunday they were willing to work with protesters, allowing them to utilize the park during the day for workshops and speakers.
“We’re trying to work with them,” said Historic Philadelphia Vice President of Operations. “This is a public park.”
Faith community takes in Occupy activists
Activists arrived at Franklin Square Sunday refreshed following a night of respite at a nearby Quaker meeting house, a safe place provided friends of the Quaker society for those taking part in National Gathering events.
Nestled in the heart of the city, the meeting house’s back parking lot Sunday housed cars and brightly decorated Caravans, emblazoned with symbols in support of Wikileaks, Bradley Manning and the 99 percent.
Janet Wilson is a driver of one of the few caravans that descended on the National Gathering in Philadelphia this week. She refers to her caravan as “V,” a vehicle that has transported her and other activists more than 16,000 miles and through more than 30 states.
Just two years ago, Wilson hadn’t considered herself an activist. That all changed when she visited the Occupy Wall Street protests of 2011 — a journey she was prompted to join after the October 2011 arrest of roughly 700 protesters on the Brooklyn Bridge.
While not the activist she is today, Wilson was curious at that time — and aware of the charged political climate. She had left the corporate working world, dissolution by greed and knew what it was like to feel the drowning impacts of an underwater mortgage. She decided at that protest that she would engage. And so began her journey, with the encouragement and support of her husband back home in Washington.
Since October 2011, Wilson has traveled the countryside in her brightly decorated RV, displaying posters put up by Occupy activists along the way.
She’s traveled to various Occupy encampments that have begun to sprout up throughout the U.S., learning about the issues that impact locals most — from fracking to corporate personhood — and supporting protesters in their quest for change.
Wilson has heard the common criticism of the Occupy movement — that they’re list of goals are not clearly defined, reflecting a disorganized system of activists with varying symbols. But Wilson says Occupy stands for many issues, because the magnitude of government corruption and greed is far reaching. Her and other activists’ lists of grievances are far too long to sum up.
“Occupy has been given this stigma, that you’re about too many things and you want too many things,” she said. “It’s because there are too many things. There’s the money in politics, there’s the school systems that are broken and failing, it’s the fact that politicians aren’t working on behalf of the people because they’re taking money from corporations, it’s fracking that’s going on — 900 chemicals being pumped into the ground. It’s mountaintop removal, it’s, I mean, I can go on and on and on.”
Relaying that to Occupy, Wilson said she, as an OWS activist, supports the overturning of Citizens United, which essentially gave corporations the power to contribute unlimited amounts of resources to campaign funding, labeling such donations as a method of ‘free speech’ given to American citizens. It’s the argument of Occupy and Wilson that corporations are not people and should therefore not be treated like such in the political world.
Her opinions are not exactly hidden, but out in the open for the world to see as she makes her way throughout the country. And her reception has been warmer than expected, with many U.S. citizens approaching her to see what all the noise is about.
“The thing I say to everybody is, ‘Do you think there’s too much money in politics?’ And that’s an absolute given,” she said.
While informing and learning, Wilson has also picked up activists along the way, carrying them on to the next rally or demonstration, creating relationships and helping others out. Before arriving at the National Gathering, she did just that. When she descended upon the street next to Independence Hall Saturday, those in her RV spilled out of the vehicle and onto the pavement — representing another group of activists in Wilson’s growing network of travelers.
Protests break out
Between workshops and speeches, Occupy activists took to the streets in an impromptu rally in opposition to the student debt loan crisis, marching from Philadelphia’s Franklin Square through the streets of Philadelphia.
The rally, dubbed the “Casserole March,” was carried out in solidarity with Quebec protesters, who have taken to the streets in recent months in protest of tuition hikes and the rising debt among students.
As area residents and tourists watched from sidewalks, restaurants and shops, roughly 100 activists marched in the streets, chanting slogans in support of relief for students, who collectively now face a debt of more than $1 trillion in the U.S.
A steady stream of police on bike and foot followed protesters as they made their way through the city. Philadelphia police officers also marched on foot along the sidelines, taking video and monitoring the situation.
The march came to a halt at Penn’s Landing when police on bikes barricaded off the section of the street, denying protesters the right to pass through to areas where tourists had previously been able to access. This contributed to tension within the movement, with Occupiers questioning why police previously had allowed tourists and residents through the landing, while denying those within the Occupy movement the right.
To view pictures from the Occupy National Gathering, click here.