Around 800 protesters marched through downtown Charlotte, North Carolina on Sunday ahead of the Democratic National Convention.
Like the "Occupy Wall Street" protests that have occurred around the country, the demonstration in Charlotte attracted a wide variety of causes. Protesters decried the deregulated financial system, corporate corruption, overseas wars and use of targeted drone strikes, union busting, and the crackdown on undocumented immigrants.
The demonstration was organized by the Coalition to March on Wall Street South.
“Despite the fact that the bailouts were four years ago, and there’s been officially declared an end to the recession, the everyday reality for people is a much different story,” Ben Carroll, an organizer of the coalition, told the Charlotte Observer. “People still see and feel in their everyday lives that the banks are responsible for so many injustices in their communities.”
Protesters have worried about a new ordinance in Charlotte, which explicitly bans “handbags, backpacks, soda cans, drink coolers, scarves, bike helmets, baby strollers, and non-service animals” within 100-feet of the DNC.
Two people were arrested during the demonstration on Sunday, but not as a result of the new ordinance. One protester was wearing a mask and was allegedly found to be carrying a knife and one bystander was accused of disorderly conduct.
The DNC begins on Tuesday in Charlotte's Time Warner Cable Arena. President Barack Obama will deliver his acceptance speech Thursday night.
Watch video, courtesy of the Associated Press, below:
