The movement that has drawn thousands of protestors to Wall Street is coming to Gainesville.
Occupy Gainesville, a local group in support of the Occupy Wall Street and Boston demonstrations, will hold an informational meeting today at 5:30 p.m. on Bo Diddley Community Plaza.
The meeting, which has about 130 attendees "confirmed" on Facebook, is being held to lay out a strategy for the Occupy Gainesville protest set for next Wednesday, also at the downtown plaza, said Jeremiah Tattersall, an organizer.
The protest in New York City began on Sept. 17 and has drawn thousands of protestors over the past two-and-a-half weeks, sparking similar events in about 150 cities across the United States and 28 in countries including Mexico, Ireland and Canada.
Tattersall said he thinks one of the big failures of the Occupy Wall Street protest has been its lack of a clear agenda.
"We're Gainesville, we're not a major center of commerce," he said. "We want to have a clear message from the beginning."
The specific demands of the Occupy Wall Street protests have yet to be expressed, but posts on the Occupy Together website and Tumblr.com reflect dissatisfaction with social and economic inequality and the effects of corporations and lobbyists on the government.
Like its predecessor, Occupy Gainesville is leaderless - Tattersall said he isn't certain who exactly initiated the movement, but it has quickly spread via Facebook, Twitter, UF listservs and word of mouth.
"It's a prairie fire mentality," he said. "Sometimes all you need is a spark to get the fire going."
On Sunday, about 700 protesters were arrested on the Brooklyn Bridge after blocking traffic by standing in the road. The majority of them have since been released.
Tattersall said he doesn't expect any problems with the Gainesville Police Department next week.
Organizations like Students for a Democratic Society and Fight Back Florida, a coalition representing working-class interests including organized labor and student groups, will be present at the meeting and next Wednesday's protest.
About 690 people currently "like" the group's Facebook page, and Tattersall said he expects most of those people to come out to the events. He said a turnout of about 100 next Wednesday would mean organizers did a poor job.
Taglines like "We are the 99 percent," "They got bailed out, we got sold out," and "We're from Main Street, not Wall Street" are messages that Tattersall said he thinks the people of Gainesville can relate to.
"They're all really true here," he said. "We're just average, working people."
