The Occupy Wall Street movement has gained significant momentum with splinter groups demonstrating all over the country. The protests that are shaking the country have no known leader, but are comprised mostly of citizens in their 20's who are outraged at almost everything going on in the country - from the state of the economy to the war in Afghanistan to environmental issues. In general, protestors are demonstrating against everything that's currently wrong in the world. Because of the vagueness of the cause, the movement has attracted millions of people disenfranchised by things occurring in the U.S. (Silverleib). The movement originally began as an ad hoc group of college student protestors united through social media. Since it's beginning, the movement has expanded across the country to Boston, Chicago, and Los Angeles, as well as other cities (Bly). .
One breakaway group called Occupy Chicago held a "huge afternoon march." Another denomination saw 700 protestors get arrested for blocking the Brooklyn Bridge. Occupy Boston marched for "an economy that works for all of us." Occupy Los Angeles followed suit and marched on City Hall. A group in Seattle called its protests "a leaderless resistance movement with people of many colors and genders" (Silverleib).
Although the separate movements seem sporadic and unorganized since they aren't protesting one specific point, Hero Vincent, a participant in the movement, believes they're unified under one main cause. Vincent is tired of seeing the gap between rich and poor widen, with Wall Street giants gaining wealth while the middle class all but disappears. "We're here for different reasons," he said. "But at the end of the day, it all boils down to one thing, and that's accountability. We want accountability for the connection between Wall Street and the politicians" (Silverleib).
"Something has to change. We're out here because we're tired of what's been going on," he added (Silverleib).