Several hundred Occupy protesters massed in front of the downtown San Francisco headquarters of Wells Fargo Bank on Tuesday with the intention of disrupting a shareholders meeting there.
Waving picket signs and broadcasting over speakers on a pickup truck parked in front of the 465 California St. bank building, demonstrators chanted, “Let us in,” and, “They got bailed out, we got sold out.”
Demonstrators said 30 shareholders who are protesters had gotten inside and would try to state their demands during the meeting. Others said they would try to stop other shareholders from going inside.
Activists intend to ask the bank’s leaders for several policy changes, including halting foreclosure proceedings against homeowners.
Wells Fargo spokesman Ruben Pulido said the protest had not forced a cancellation of the 1 p.m. session.
“Definitely, the meeting will go on as planned,” he said.
SF police monitor Wells Fargo shareholder meeting
AP, April 24
San Francisco ”” Police were guarding the entrance to the annual meeting of Wells Fargo shareholders on Tuesday as protesters associated with the Occupy Wall Street movement geared up to crash the gathering.
Dozens of officers were stationed around the Merchant’s Exchange Building in the city’s Financial District in advance of the 1 p.m. meeting. Bank stockholders were asked to show certificates or other proof of ownership before being corralled past gates erected in front of the doors.
Many of the early arrivals represented community groups from across the country that purchased Wells Fargo stock so they would have a say in the bank’s practices.
Shareholder Mark Richmond, a 59-year-old Portland member of the group We Are Oregon, said he hoped he could voice his concerns specifically about predatory lending and home foreclosures. He said he expected some raucousness inside and outside the meeting.
“Oh, there’s going to be some action all right. We’re very dissatisfied with Wells Fargo,” said Richmond, who works as a janitor at the Portland International Airport. “This should be very interesting.”
|
| Via: Josh Harkinson: Riot Police in SF |
Vivian Ho’s twitter feed.
In Pictures.
Occupy our Homes: Protests Overwhelm Wells Fargo Annual Meeting, Shareholders Shut Out
SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – Police in riot gear arrested two dozen people on Tuesday as protesters with a huge inflated rat sought to disrupt a Wells Fargo & Co (WFC) annual shareholder meeting to express anger over foreclosures, executive compensation and corporate taxes.
Several of those arrested were handcuffed and taken away in police vans as hundreds more chanted and waved signs outside the meeting in a building across from the bank’s San Francisco headquarters.
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/protesters-picket-wells-fargo-meeting-202316111.html
(F**king Apaches are after the Wells stagecoach)
http://mauberly.blogspot.com/