An early morning protest march in downtown San Francisco drew hundreds of protestors who snarled rush hour traffic and completely surrounded Wells Fargo's corporate headquarters. Police arrested at least 11 protesters for blocking the bank entrance.
A crowd of about 300-400 gathered across from the Market Street location of the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco around 7am.
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The sidewalk directly in front of the bank was formerly the site of a makeshift tent encampment of protestors during the early days of the Occupy San Francisco movement; however, the San Francisco Police Department forced the people camped-out there to move last week.
City Supervisor John Avalos spoke before the crowd started its march though the city's financial district. "Ten years after 9/11, we're still living inside the politics of fear," said the mayoral hopeful, who has been a fixture at many of Occupy SF protests. "We need a bailout on Third Street, on Fillmore Street, on 24th Street," he added.
Green Party candidate Terry Joan Baum was also spotted at the protests, holding aloft a sign displaying her campaign slogan, "Tax the Rich, Duh!"
When a speaker asked how many in the crowd were unemployed or underemployed, about one-third raised their hands; that portion jumped to virtually everyone in the crowd when the speaker asked how many of them struggle to make ends meet every month.
Chanting in Spanish and English, the protestors demanded justice (and higher taxes) from the financial elites and jobs and health care for people like themselves.
There was a significant union presence — members of the SEIU, ULW, nurses union and the Inland Boatman's Union of the Pacific were all there proudly displaying their affiliation.
Perennial protestor Zachary Running Wolf briefly spoke after Avalos. Holding a burning stick of incense, Running Wolf called the Occupy Wall Street movement "a spiritual war rather than a political or economic one."
Speakers singled out Bank of America and, amidst chants of "Bank of America/Bad for America," urged protestors to move their money out of the formerly San Francisco-based financial behemoth.
After about a half-hour on Market street, the protestors moved down Drumm and Sacramento streets, closing the busy downtown thoroughfares to traffic.
When the crowd reached the Wells Fargo headquarters near the intersection of Montgomery and Sacramento streets, the protestors spread out to completely surround the building. A brass band played as protestors forcibly blocked the entrances to the building.
Check out photos from the Occupy San Francisco protests in our slideshow below:
