WASHINGTON -- Occupy DC protesters marched from their camp in McPherson Square to the Department of Justice headquarters on Wednesday afternoon to show support not just for their Occupy comrades in Oakland, Calif., where police have clashed with protesters, but for others in a dozen different U.S. cities.
Around 50 protesters marched on the same day as the General Strike in Oakland to protest the controversial reaction by police which has left dozens arrested and one military vet in the hospital with serious injuries. Upon reaching the Justice Department, however, demonstrators named off other cities such as New York, Atlanta, Austin and other locations where police have made mass arrests of Occupy protesters.
After the march to the Justice Department, protesters met with Communications Workers Association members at Freedom Plaza to march on the Verizon Center. The telecommunications giant has faced 45,000 of its employees striking over contract disputes. The CWA union brought signs which read "Verizon workers at the 99 percent, executives are the 1 percent."
Occupy DC stopped traffic during its downtown march and faced a mixture of embraced responses by passers-by, as well as critics.
More Occupy actions are planned. Protesters from the McPherson Square encampment plan to join the National Nurses United and other progressive groups on Thursday to call for a Wall Street financial transaction tax. The groups argue the tax would be a way to raise more revenue for education and welfare assistance programs.
On Friday, Occupy DC will again take to the streets to protest prominent conservatives at the "Defending the American Dream Conference" at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center. Current participants in the conference include Republican presidential candidates Herman Cain and Mitt Romney.
Also at the march Wednesday were members of Occupy Des Moines, passing out fliers and inviting people to join them in Iowa to "Occupy the Caucuses" and protest the presidential candidates there. Iowa's first-in-the-nation presidential caucuses are planned for Jan. 3.
The Occupy DC camp at McPherson has grown in the month it's been active, going from just one-fourth of the park to encompassing nearly the entire square, located two blocks from the White House.
Despite that, some of the volunteers at Occupy DC told The Huffington Post that their donations are dwindling, and they haven't been able to keep up with food supplies for the hundreds of Occupy participants in the square.