BALTIMORE – With “Occupy Wall Street” protests filling the streets of New York, organizers in Maryland hoped to bring the same energy to a local version of the protest at the Inner Harbor on Tuesday. But only a few dozen showed up to the “Occupy Baltimore” protest against corporate greed and corruption.
“I’m a small business, I’ve been working for 40 years,” said Lani Miller, a jewelry store owner who was protesting at the Inner Harbor Tuesday. The slumping economy has prevented her from expanding her business and hiring new employees, she said.
The protest was loosely organized. Protesters said they were tired of corporate influence of lawmakers in Washington.
Several protestors said Baltimore’s high poverty rate provided an example of how politicians influenced by big business had turned their back on poor people.
“I’m here for guys like him … We need to do more to help the needy,” said Adam Laws, a protestor, while pointing to a homeless man near the protest site.
The “Occupy Wall Street” movement has asked students at universities across the country to walk out of classes at noon Wednesday to protest rising tuition prices and increasing student debt.