Occupiers Plan Massive Protest at Democratic Convention

Occupy protesters are expected to arrive in Charlotte by the thousands next month. 

A report in the New York Post estimates a protest of the Democratic convention could draw as many as 5,000, though a report last week suggested area prisons are staffing up for as many as 10,000. The so-called “March on Wall Street South” is scheduled for September 2nd. Occupy Charlotte issued a rambling appeal which begins:

The Democratic Party has chosen this ‘Wall Street of the South’ as itsrallying city despite North Carolina being one of the most anti-unionstates in the country and despite Charlotte being the home of severalcorporate criminals, most notably Bank of America, one of the mega-banksmost responsible for the 2008 economic meltdown. Charlotte holds thesecond largest concentration of finance capital in the United States,the East Coast headquarters of Wells Fargo, the new home of human-rightsoffender Chiquita, and the home of Duke Energy, which recently mergedwith Progress Energy, making Duke the largest energy monopoly in thecountry.

There is also some tough language aimed squarely at President Obama:

We willcontinue to hold President Obama’s Administration accountable forrefusing to close Guantanamo Bay, for not insisting on true universalhealthcare, for deporting our immigrant brothers and sisters in recordnumbers,  for working to expedite approval of the Keystone XL pipeline,for signing the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), for utilizingsecret kill lists, for continuing to wage perpetual warfare, forfailing to bring to justice those responsible for the economic crisis,and for its documented systematic effort to quash Occupations throughout the country. [Emphasis in original]

The Occupy movement has always been long on revolutionary talk but, practically speaking, it may find it difficult to set up camp in Charlotte. In addition to police and courts staffing up for protests, new rules against overnight camping have been put in place in nine counties. County commissioners say the restrictions are aimed squarely at Occupy. “These radical protest actions create a detriment to the health, safetyand welfare of people, and the peace and dignity of the county,” one commissioner told the Charlotte Observer.