Occupy Philadelphia held a general assembly meeting at the Arch Street Methodist Church this evening to determine a time and location for their action.
After two hours of debate, the group decided by consensus to begin the sleep-in at City Hall Thursday morning.
What last week brought over 150 participants to the church tonight filled its 800-seat capacity, with over 900 members of the community showing their support and sharing opinions about the protest. The crowd spilled into the surrounding aisles and stood in the back of the meeting.
In keeping with the group’s emphasis on the democratic process, general votes were taken by hand-raising, everyone was offered an opportunity to speak and portions of the assembly were dedicated to group discussions.
The Occupy Movement that is beginning to form across the United States
in solidarity towards Wall Street protesters argues that they are the
99% of the America being treated unfairly and undemocratically by their
government.
“I don’t want people to think this is just poor students,” said attendee Michael Norton, 25. “I don’t think it is, and I don’t think it should be.”
