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The Beginning
The magazine AdBusters sent out a call to all people to start the Occupy Wall Street protests, without any real goals in mind. They now have sparked even more occupy movements, such as Occupy Xmas, which protests against Black Friday. -
First Rally
The first general assembly started in New York, and it seemed like just another protest to most people. Not many people attended the protest, and some of them admitted they thought it would fail relatively quickly like most other protests. It started as a protest against the top "1%" of America, the people with the highest incomes. Occupy Wall Street claimed that they were the 99%, and they demanded that balance be restored to the system. September 17th was announced as an important day. -
Staying Alive
The group "New Yorkers Against Budget Cuts" became more and more interested in the movements, and it managed to survive the initial hurdles of starting a sucessful protest. However, it didn't have much steam yet, and the movement had no actual goals. -
Tent Experiment
A very small group tested a city law by sleeping in tents overnight. Nine of them were arrested for this, but all were released within 24 hours. This created a new spark of life for the protest, one that would keep it going for a while. This turning point restored hope for the big day, Sept. 17th. -
Gaining Momentum
The movement was finally beginning to go somewhere. They had now had an actual demonstration, complete with arrests. More people began to join the movement and started to wonder what exactly would be happening on September 17th. -
"The Day"
The day had finally come, September 17th. It wasn't as huge as some expected, but it wasn't a complete failure either. Many admitted that they didn't think it looked like much, but confidence stayed high. Social media was used to make the assembly look much larger, and that attracted a few more followers. That night, just over 200 people slept in tents in Wall Street. -
More Arrested
More protesters were arrested in a peaceful march. The headcount was approximately 80 according to one source, all of which were protesting in a legal, nonthreatening way. Even with arrests and pepper spray, the protests could not be stopped. This determination helped build more and more of a following. -
Brooklyn Bridge
This time, over 700 demonstrators were arrested for blocking traffic on the Brooklyn Bridge. At this exponential rate of growth, the movement would soon reach into the thousands with their believers. While they now had a more focused problem to protest, they still presented no solution to the problem. -
Spreading
The movements spread to hundreds of other cities across the nation, catching the eye of the most important of figures in the country. President Obama himself commented on the movements, stating that they were working on fixing the problem, but a solution had not yet been agreed upon. -
Close Call
The protesters that made camp in Zuccotti Park were almost evicted from their site, as they did not have a permit to camp overnight on the city's property. However, they held their ground against police and refused to leave the area. -
Police Take Action
Police began treating the protests as less and less peaceful and began to use riot gear to forcefully remove protesters from their camping spots, as this was illegal without a permit. Tear gas, flash bang grenades, and other harsh equipment was used to remove the demonstrators from several of their sites. -
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D.C. March
21 of the protesters marched from Zucotti Park, New York, to Washington D.C. to show their dedication to the movement. The impact of this event is unknown for now, as they marchers have not yet reached Washington D.C. -
Protesting Anti-Protest
The Occupy Wall Street movement began to protest the fact that they were not allowed to camp overnight in the city parks. This is one of the most recent events that has occurred within the movement, but it doesn't seem likely that the government and police forces will give up the sites they've already secured. The movement seems as though it may be dying now, although the protesters are even more outraged by the government's actions.
