You could say Occupy Wall Street started with a whisper - a call by Canadian activist group Adbusters that spread on Facebook to gather on September 17, 2011.
But before long that whisper turned into a roar, a collective anger at Wall Street corruption, at growing income inequality in America, and at a system in which government policy is often dictated by corporate greed. Before long the crowds brought police, and police brought pepper spray. A September 26 video of officers spraying young women only brought on more protesters. On October 1, 700 of them were arrested on the Brooklyn Bridge.Instead of scaring people away, scenes of police using batons outraged the masses, and before long occupy movements multiplied, from Los Angeles to Chicago to Boston, forcing the mainstream media to start covering the protest they had largely ignored.The mood grew darker when on, October 15, authorities threatened to clear the tent city at Zuccotti Park. At the last minute occupiers were allowed to remain after cleaning the park themselves. After this, the attention turned to Occupy Oakland, where Iraq War veteran Scott Olsen was hit in the head with a tear gas canister which fractured his skull and left him in critical condition. All the while, the protests spread much to the dismay of authorities. On November 5 and 6, police evicted protesters camped out in parks in Oakland, Portland and St. Louis, to name a fewOn November 15, New York’s Zuccotti Park, the heart of the movement, was also cleared for the first time since the movement began. Protesters are allowed to return but not to camp. Now Occupy DC is one of the few places left where Occupiers are allowed to remain.