The Occupy Movement may be a shadow of what it once was, but protests are starting to pick up in front of Bank of America [stock BAC][/stock] branches and at company functions.
Tuesday marked the kickoff of a statewide protest against BofA in North Carolina, the bank’s home state. Protesters there are demanding the bank stop foreclosures, stop investing in fossil fuels and start investing in renewable energy, and pay a fair share of taxes. They are planning a larger protest the bank’s investor conference in Charlotte on May 9.
But that’s just the tip of the iceberg — and a much less entertaining tip.
Protests this month also include:
Stripping protesters who “busted up” President and CEO Brian Moynihan’s presentation at Citi’s Financial Services conference in New York on International Women’s Day. The protesters, from CodePink, yelled “Bust up Bank of America before it busts up America!” and similar chants before ripping off business suits (that they wore to blend in with the crowd) to reveal elaborate pink bras and “Bust up BofA” scribbled on their chests.
In this video you can hear (but not see) protesters on the stage shouting before they are hauled off, and an entirely unmoved and deadpan Moynihan returning to his point by simply stating, “as I was saying.”
On March 15, protesters at nine Bank of America branches set up living rooms in front of the banking behemoth to protest foreclosures. Unfortunately, like this one in New York, the protesters ended up having their little living rooms impounded.
The hauling away of their furniture didn’t stop one protester from doing a whole different kind of “squatting” though. See here:
The protesters plan on setting up couches, ferns, lamps and other living room accoutrements on the 15th of every month until BofA is broken up into smaller pieces.
The protest in front of (or within) the bank’s branches and meetings seem to be the only remaining Occupy actions garnering any amount of support or attention. Their increasing creativity puts them in the spotlight — even if it’s in the weird news section of some websites.
And maybe if that is the case, we can expect a whole new level of creativity out of them next month.
Easter bunnies dropping of “nest eggs” in front of the bank, anyone? What better way to celebrate Easter.
No surprise, but BofA was silent on the Occupy protests.
jhuseman@housingwire.com
