Bank of America Branch Invaded by Occupy Wall Street Protesters

By Kenneth Long on November 16, 2011

Like them or hate them, Occupy Wall Street protesters have gained notice among big banks and Wall Street firms. This time, OWS has set its sights on a Bank of America branch in San Francisco.

The downtown branch on California Street and near Davis Street first became overwhelmed at about 2:15 pm on Wednesday. Riot police removed dozens of protesters by 4 pm.

OWS protesters took control of the bank and refused to leave. They pitched a tent in the lobby and stood on desks chanting "we are the 99%." Some wore bandanas.

While it would be tempting to connect the protest with big bank bailouts and Wall Street greed, this time the protest was in response to a "ReFund Public Education March." The University of California Board of Regents previously canceled their meeting which was scheduled to take place in San Francisco. Apparently, this protest was arranged to take the message to the place where they (UC Board of Regents) "do Wall Street's business."

So regardless of what you may read, this protest was more about California's planned funding cuts to higher education than it was about corporate greed, bank bailouts and other Wall Street excesses. This time, Bank of America is more of a victim than a perpetrator, not something the bank is accustomed to.

The OWS protests are fragmented and send mixed messages. While Debtors Unite believes that consumers should express their First Amendment rights to protect themselves, we must admit that the OWS phenomenon is a problematic approach that often results in laws being broken and public safety being compromised.

Instead of the OWS approach, we much prefer Molly Katchpole's approach of obtaining 30,000 signatures in her protest of Bank of America's planned debit card fees. The bank has since agreed to cancel its planned fee.