Occupy Atlanta has included protests and demonstrations. Occupy Atlanta began on October 6, 2011 in

Woodruff Park Woodruff Park, named for Robert W. Woodruff, is located in the heart of Downtown Atlanta, Georgia. The park's are north of Edgewood Ave, between Peachtree Street NE and Park Place NE. The park includes a fountain, a performance pavilion, an ...

, located in

downtown ''Downtown'' is a term primarily used in North America by English speakers to refer to a city's sometimes commercial, cultural and often the historical, political and geographic heart. It is often synonymous with its central business distric ...

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,715 ...

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States Georgia may also refer to: Places Historical states and entities * Related to the ...

. As part of the

Occupy movement The Occupy movement was an international populist socio-political movement that expressed opposition to social and economic inequality and to the perceived lack of "real democracy" around the world. It aimed primarily to advance social and econo ...

, it is inspired by

Occupy Wall Street Occupy Wall Street (OWS) was a protest Social movement, movement against economic inequality and the Campaign finance, influence of money in politics that began in Zuccotti Park, located in New York City's Financial District, Manhattan, Wall S ...

which began in New York City on September 17. As of June 2012, Occupy Atlanta had continued to engage in organized meetings, events and actions.

Statement of purpose

On December 10, 2011, the group adopted the following statement of purpose:

Potential speech by Congressman John Lewis

On Friday, October 6, 2011, the protestors at Occupy Atlanta did not reach a consensus on allotting time for U.S. Rep. and

Civil Rights Movement The civil rights movement was a nonviolent social and political movement and campaign from 1954 to 1968 in the United States to abolish legalized institutional Racial segregation in the United States, racial segregation, Racial discrimination ...

icon

John Lewis John Robert Lewis (February 21, 1940 – July 17, 2020) was an American politician and civil rights activist who served in the United States House of Representatives for from 1987 until his death in 2020. He participated in the 1960 Nashville ...

to address the crowd. The main argument against allowing Rep. Lewis to speak was that no one person is inherently more valuable than anyone else, and that allowing a speech at that time was not part of that day's agenda. He was invited to speak at time later in the day, during the "other business" part of the process, and this proposition was accepted by the assembly. Lewis was unable to attend because of prior commitments, but indicated that he was not offended by the incident. On October 9, the group posted an apology on its website and invited Lewis to speak. Lewis was not disappointed he wasn't able to address the crowd. After the incident, Lewis further voiced his support for the movement:

Foreclosures

On November 7, 2011, Occupy Atlanta protesters camped out in a home in

Snellville Snellville is a city in Gwinnett County, Georgia, United States, east of Atlanta. The population was 18,242 at the 2010 census, and in 2019 the estimated population was 20,077. It is a developed suburb of Atlanta and a part of the Atlanta metr ...

. It belonged to a police officer, who had contacted Occupy explaining that the house had been foreclosed upon and that he and his family were shortly to be evicted. The protesters left on the 10th after the local sheriff said that the family could be arrested for accessory to trespassing. Occupy Atlanta has stated that they hope this action, and similar ones planned in the future, will bring attention to the foreclosure crisis. A week later, Occupy Cleveland took similar action and succeeded in preventing the eviction of a family from a foreclosed home; the family were given 30 more days.

Incidents

52 Arrests on October 26, 2011

Around 1 AM on Wednesday, October 26, 2011, police blocked off motor vehicle access to Woodruff Park. Mayor

Kasim Reed Mohammed Kasim Reed (born June 10, 1969) is an American lawyer and politician who served as the 59th mayor of Atlanta, Georgia's state capital and largest city, from 2010 to 2018. A Democrat, Reed was a member of the Georgia House of Represen ...

had revoked the executive order he established that allowed the protesters to lawfully stay in the park. Protesters numbering around 120-150 were warned to leave the park or they would be arrested. Reed characterized the situation as a crisis and over 150 officers with 3 helicopters using spotlightsOccupy Wall Street: Clashes in Oakland and Atlanta
October 2011. ''

BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board ex ...

''. the

SWAT In the United States, a SWAT team (special weapons and tactics, originally special weapons assault team) is a police tactical unit that uses specialized or military equipment and tactics. Although they were first created in the 1960s to ...

team, and police on horseback and motorcycles were used. At one point during the arrests, protesters not in the park took over the streets. This is when police brought in their motorcycle police to try to break up the crowd that was forming on the streets. Instead of separating, the crowd of protesters marched towards the oncoming police motorcycles and forced them to turn around and head the other way. Fifty two protesters in the park were arrested. Among the arrested was Georgia state Senator

Vincent Fort Vincent D. Fort (born April 28, 1956) is an American politician who served as a member of the Georgia State Senate for the 39th district from 1996 to 2017. He represented part of Fulton County for the 39th district. His district includes part of ...

, who said of Reed, "He's using all these resources. ... This is the most peaceful place in Georgia."

Other incidents

During the day of Tuesday October 25, "An Associated Press reporter talked to man with the gun slung across his back ... as he walked in the park. He wouldn't give his name, but said he was an out-of-work accountant who doesn't agree with the protesters' views, but was there, armed, because he wanted to protect the rights of people to protest. There's no law that prevents him from carrying the weapon in public, but several police followed him for about 10 minutes before moving off."

References

External links

Official website

"Bloods and Crips find common cause in Occupy Atlanta"
November 4, 2011. American Friends Service Committee.
"Occupy" photographs from around the nation
from the ''Denver Post'' {{Atlanta history Occupy Wall Street Occupy movement in the United States Organizations based in Atlanta 2011 in Georgia (U.S. state) History of Atlanta Culture of Atlanta