About 100 Occupy Denver demonstrators trudged through slushy sidewalks during today’s march for workers’rights.
The march marks the group’s 11th straight Saturday demonstration, and is the latest in a string of themed demonstrations. Last week, protesters spoke about the housing market and foreclosure rates, and several demonstrators said they plan to focus on immigration next weekend.
Betsy Beatty, who joined the demonstration in October, said the group continues to gain momentum as it transitions from an occupation in the park to an intellectual movement.
“There is no stopping us now,” Beatty said. “Now it’s a different crowd from the the crowd we had the first day and the first month.”
Protesters gathered in Civic Center around 11 a.m., where they waited for instructions and gave speeches. The march, scheduled begin around noon, left the park shortly before 1 p.m.
The group walked down the 16th Street Mall toward the Verizon Wireless store where they planned to meet a group rallying outside.
Before the Occupy group arrived, about 40 demonstrators with Communication Workers of America held a rally protesting Verizon’s employee wages and benefits, said Jay Boyle, who helped organize the rally.
“Occupy Denver is standing up for workers in America and we need jobs in this country,” Boyle said.
Originally, the group planned the rally to coincide with Occupy Denver’s march, Boyle said. By the time the march arrived at the store, less than 10 people remained.
When Occupy Denver demonstrators arrived, one person went inside the store to ask an employees if they would speak to the crowd. They declined and the group continued on to the Denver Metro Chamber of Commerce at 14th and Market streets.
After the march, about 50 people gathered at the west steps of the state Capitol where they spoke for about 45 minutes.
As an extension of today’s protest, demonstrators have planned the “1-2/12 Action Rally” on Monday, at a Walmart distribution center in Loveland.
Neil Brown, who has been with the group since it began this fall, said that protesters will march outside the center, intentionally slowing the trucks coming out.
“We are not blocking the trucks, but if we slow them down then they’ll get an overtime pay bonus, just like we gave Denver police,” Brown said.
Demonstrators will gather at Civic Center at 8 a.m. on Monday morning and carpool to the center. Today, protesters urged each other to remain peaceful at Monday’s demonstration.
Jordan Steffen: 303-954-1794 or jsteffen@denverpost.com
