
On Sept. 17, 3,000 people assembled at Battery Park with the intention of occupying Wall Street to protest greed and corruption in the government and financial system. They didn't succeed — at least not geographically. Denied access to Wall Street, the protesters instead found a home at nearby Zuccotti Park, just around the corner from Ground Zero in lower Manhattan. During the first week of the occupation, some 300 people camped out, crafted a motto ("We Are the 99%") and organized small-scale marches to protest a system that they say bailed out the banks and left everyone else to fend for themselves. It was a message that resonated. Within a month, the Occupy movement gained momentum, spreading to cities across the U.S. and around the world. Though it's hard to say at this point what, if any, long-term effects the movement will have, efforts to silence the masses — such as mass arrests, evictions from protesters' strongholds, and in some cases, incidences of alleged police brutality — have so far only served to fuel the fire. After protesters were evicted from Zuccotti Park and other encampments across the country, Occupy Wall Street declared November 17 a Mass Day of Action. To commemorate the movement's two-month anniversary, protesters took to the streets in New York City and beyond to send a definitive message — It doesn't matter how long it takes, their voices will be heard.