Occupy Redlands to Join Rose Parade Protest

Plans to Occupy the annual Rose Parade were developing quickly. So Sean McDuffee was still working to get the details on Tuesday.

“Apparently the group putting it together, which is an offshoot of Occupy LA, has actually worked with the Tournament of Roses parade to allow people to march,” McDuffee said

At last report, the Occupy protest will follow at the end of the parade behind police cars.

“The last update that I got was that we were marching at 9:30 a.m,” he said.

They will be congregating at a park near the parade’s starting point. McDuffee, who knows well the challenge of attending the parade, said he plans to arrive at the location at 5 a.m.

Occupy Redlands is just one of several Occupy groups that plan to join the show of force at the event. About a million viewers annually line the 5 and a half-mile route. Millions more regularly watch from home.

According to occupytheroseparade.org, there are plans for Occupy’s version of floats: A 250-foot long constitution, held up in front so that the words “We the People" is visible. That will be followed by a 70-foot constitution with the words “We the Corporations” in front. Following the two constitutions will be the “Goldie Sachs Wheel of Fortune” followed by the Octupy Octupus that will reportedly reach 70 feet in diameter and require 40 people to operate it.

“The octupus represents the strangle hold of Wall Street and other corporations on our democracy,” according to the website.

Bringing up the rear of the procession will be float #99. Ninety-nine people representing the 99 percent will carry one person to represent member of the 1 percent on an imperial throne.

Planned speakers include Cindy Sheehan, mother to a soldier killed in the Iraq War, and possibly liberal icon and documentary filmmaker Michael Moore, according to news reports.

Stephen Kemp, member of Occupy Redlands, said he was planning what kind of sign he would be bringing to the Parade protest.

“I will bring my voice,” he said. “I like to chant and cheer. We have serious reasons for being there.”

There are many issues that need to be addressed and so many questions they want answered, Kemp said.

“I don’t know that we have all the answers,” he said. “But I think we’re asking the right questions.”