Peaceful march along Ryan supports Occupy Wall Street

Published 11:08 pm Saturday, October 15, 2011

Far from New York, where the Occupy Wall Street demonstrations began in September, and Rome, where police spent part of the weekend firing tear gas at rioting crowds, about 40 people peacefully marched along Ryan Street on Saturday afternoon to protest the scope and influence of corporations and capitalism.

Preston Harrington, a mason who was one of the earliest demonstrators to arrive at Ryan Street’s intersection with Alamo Street, said the Occupy movement was widely misunderstood.

“It’s not an anti-capitalism movement. It’s an anti-corporate greed movement,” Harrington said. But he still lashed out at what he said he thinks is an out-of-control corporate system.

“Capitalism, unregulated, leads to a lot of corruption and a lot of bad things,” he said. “If you don’t regulate them, they become tyrants.”

Not all of the demonstrators were avowed liberals. Derek Vandebrake, a McNeese State University student studying economics and finance, protested while wearing a shirt supporting Rep. Ron Paul, R-Texas, the presidential candidate known for his Libertarian economic philosophy.

“It’s a bad thing to have the marriage of corporations and government,” Vandebrake, a senior at McNeese, said.

He said that while he didn’t agree with the views of every demonstrator, he supported what he saw as the protest’s overarching message.

“The only thing that all have in common is that they don’t think corporations should be in bed with the government,” he said.

Most of the demonstrators clutched signs, some of which they made at the protest’s gathering place, as they marched. The messages on the signs included “End Corporate Personhood” — a reference to a comment by Mitt Romney, a former governor of Massachusetts and a Republican presidential candidate — and “Leave No CEO Behind,” a play on the No Child Left Behind Act, a 2001 education law.

Demonstrators publicized plans for the march through social media. On Facebook, more than 225 people had “liked” the Occupy Lake Charles page by Saturday afternoon.

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The Associated Press contributed to this report.