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| Occupy Knoxville, Krutch Park, October 2011 |
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| Occupy Knoxville, Krutch Park, October 2011 |
It's not as if First Friday was cancelled due to an onslaught of protesters, but it certainly altered the tenor of the night. The gathering was slated for Krutch Park at 6:00 PM and I got there a few minutes later. The crowd had begun to gather and they were pretty easy to spot because of their signs and the policemen hanging out around the perimeter of the crowd.
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| Occupy Knoxville, Krtuch Park, October 2011 |
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| Occupy Knoxville, Krutch Park, October 2011 |
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| Occupy Knoxville, October 2011 |
When I first arrived, I guessed there might be seventy-five people present, though more kept coming. That's a pretty impressive number for any Knoxville Protest Movement that doesn't have a caffeinated beverage in its name. By the time speeches were being made - without the use of amplification, which was forbidden by the city (?) - the crowd had easily swelled to two hundred, which is the number the News Sentinel published.
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| Occupy Knoxville, October 2011 |
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| Occupy Knoxville, October 2011 |
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| Occupy Knoxville, Krutch Park, October 2011 |
But people kept arriving. More seemed to join as they realized what was happening. Somewhere around the midpoint of the "rally," which was more a series of spontaneous speakers (trust me, they had not practiced and were not "professional" protesters), a Slutwalk hit the park. I'll have to get to that and what happened next in tomorrow's post. For today, I'll leave you with more images, with many more to come.
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| Occupy Knoxville, Krutch Park, October 2011 |
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| Occupy Knoxville, October 2011 |
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| Occupy Knoxville, Krutch Park, October 2011 |
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| Occupy Knoxville, Krutch Park, October 2011 |
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| Occupy Knoxville, Krutch Park, October 2011 |
Labels: Downtown Knoxville, Downtown Knoxville Blogs, First Friday, Knoxville Blogs, Krutch Park, Occupy Knoxville, Occupy Wall Street
10 Comments:
Not really sure what "Occupy Knoxville" is about and have a feeling some were protesting just to be protesting ... the Lord knows we have enough to protest!
The "Slutwalk" sounds more interesing. ☺
More pictures can be seen here:
http://stephaniericherphotography.zenfolio.com/occupyknoxville
I was there as well and I'll be posting a blog entry sometime this week. It was a great protest and a lot of energy!
This comment has been removed by the author.
Cindy,I'm not completely sure, either, though I think I'm getting a more clear picture. Of course, any time a crowd this big assembles, there are many motives. Thanks for the link Anonymous. I'll look forward to it, Andrea. Let us know when it is up.
The morning news, in relation to the growing number of "Occupy" protests around the nation, used the topic to divide politicians into categories of "aware" or "tone deaf."
I understood this, from being there. Some wanted everyone to be poor? Some wanted the rich taxed more. Some felt entitled to good jobs because they went to college. Some felt "corporations" ( who hire lots of people) were to blame. Some felt rich people hold all the money and there is no other money available for them < strange. Most didn't know what rich was, but it wasn't them.
I came away thinking people only read the headlines and nothing else. Few offered any real solutions to what they were protesting about. They just knew it was right. I guess someone told them so? I sit here just baffled at what took place. I may show up next time with a sign that says," I don't know why Im protesting, but I am."
shovelhead; You don't REALLY have a clue: Your comment sounds like a FOX and Friends get together. If you're interested, and you're not....there are several news site, media sites and websites explaining in detail the problems we are facing today.
1. People say go to college, get a good educations...get a good job. Now you're stuck with thousands of dollars debt and nobody's hiring because all the jobs are sent overseas. and the RW say you're lazy because you don't have a job.
2. Corporations are sitting on millions of dollars and NOT hiring, just laying everybody off to raise their bottom line. Then YOU can't get hired because you are "too old, or too experienced or expect benefits."
3. Seniors are being ridiculed and subjected to smears simply because they did what they were supposed to: work, raise families, buy homes. pay taxes and save for the future. they expected SS and Medicare like they were promised. Now they are being attacked as if THEY were the cause of all this, and not the banks.
4. Yes, the 1% should pay "their fair share" since they have managed to NOT do it for decades. (Thanks Bush) Income taxes now are the Lowest in decades...and they want the poor/middle class to "pay more?"
5. I won't even go into the drug and health insurance scams being run in this country.....
Hey Shovelhead and Judi,
This is all a bit too much for me to address in a comment, but tomorrow's post will be more in the direction of what I think is happening, here. I think Shovelhead's experience is legitimate: He was there and that's what he heard. At the same time, Judi's statements are mostly spot-on and I think even though many people can't articulate as clearly why they are there, these are some of the factors. For now, I'd say, just keep it nice, guys. No need to bash anybody else. Let's educate each other.
Thank you for the article. Hope you don't mind that we linked the article to http://occupyknoxville.tumblr.com/
We are establishing an online journal for Knoxville Occupy pics, vids, stories, and news. Feel free to submit any future links regarding Occupy Knoxville. Thanks.
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