Over 1,000 Occupy protesters join Action day in Chicago

More than 1,000 Occupy Chicago demonstrators joined forces Thursday afternoon with Stand Up! Chicago and various organizations around the country, answering the call for an International "Jobs Not Cuts" Day of Action. The protesters met at Thompson center at 3:30 p.m. Thursday and began marching to Jackson and LaSalle streets, the heart of the city's financial district, to "resist austerity, reclaim the economy, and recreate our democracy." The organizer said on its official website that "this day, originally conceived as part of a celebration of the two-month anniversary of Occupy Wall Street, will now be a solidarity action in light of the raid on New York's encampment early Tuesday morning." Occupy protesters in more than U.S. 30 cities are taking to the streets on this Day of Action. "We stand in complete solidarity with Occupy Wall Street," said Megan Groves, an Occupy Chicago committee volunteer. "We are going to tell the world that you can raid a camp, but you can't destroy a movement. We aren't going anywhere, we're going everywhere!" The movement's Chicago website, occupychi.org, claims the protesters will engage in a mass action at 5:30 p.m. Some participants will dress as the one percent, showcasing a large scale street theater impersonating the wealthy. And then demonstrators will march through the city's downtown area before convening in Grant Park, near Michigan and Congress, by 6:30 p.m. Stand Up! Chicago organizers say their rally is intended to " declare an 'economic emergency' for the 99 percent" and is a continuation of the series of Take Back Chicago which last month brought thousands of protesters to the city streets. "Unemployed workers, struggling families and other members of the 99 percent ... will be calling for real job creation, protesting proposed job-killing budget cuts and demanding that big banks take responsibility for wrecking the economy," the rally announcement read.