Occupy Tacoma march attracts more than 400

TACOMA — A crowd of more than 400 marched from Tacoma’s Hilltop to downtown Saturday afternoon, in solidarity with the national Occupy Wall Street movement.

The peaceful Occupy Tacoma assembly began around 1 p.m. in People’s Park on the Hilltop, attracting a diverse group that included business people, teachers, labor union members, parents and grandparents, young people with orange hair and older people with gray hair.

Chanting and waving signs and watched by Tacoma police officers, the group made its way to the heart of downtown, stopping at several government offices along the way, including the County-City Building.

Even though those offices are closed Saturday, marchers said they felt it was important to raise their voices there for the sake of symbolism. Protesters said they want both government and corporate power brokers – whom they call the “1 percent” – to hear them loud and clear.

Their chants: “We are the 99 percent” and “The banks got bailed out, we got sold out.”

Joy Bonney of Tacoma said the group has a simple goal: to educate and motivate “the 99 percent to hold the 1 percent accountable.”

“There are so many things wrong with corporate America ­– to fit it all in a flyer wouldn’t work,” she said.

“We are not anti-capitalist,” said the 27-year-old, who holds down five part-time jobs. “We understand the need for competition in the marketplace. We just think it needs to be better regulated.”

Marchers emphasized that they operate by consensus – with help from occupytacoma.org and Facebook. While some group members are taking leadership roles, they say there are no designated leaders.

“We are all working together to have our voice be heard,” Bonney said.