NORMAN — Members of Occupy Norman marched quietly along a sidewalk in downtown Norman on Wednesday, despite being threatened and having a tent vandalized earlier in the day.
Peyton Gates said an irate man yelled at Occupy protesters currently camping at Andrews Park.
“He threw the hammer at us,” she said. “He also said, ‘I’ll do a lot worse than that.”
While Gates and other Occupy Norman members did not see the man vandalize the tent, they said he made statements of admission to them and threatened them.
“Are you ready to die for your liberalism” was a statement that stuck in all of their minds, according to protesters
The incident was reported to the police, along with a description of the man and the tag number of his truck, Gates said.
During the group’s afternoon march, member Scott Hellman closed his account at a local branch of a global investment bank. He said he is a student and has moved his account to OU Federal Credit Union. Hellman is working on his master’s degree.
Most of the protesters say they have jobs. Alisa Herring said she has two jobs. The others are students. They said the public idea that they are bums who don’t work simply isn’t true.
While individuals associated with Occupy Norman said they discourage patronage of large international banks, they support locally owned banks and credit unions.
A dog named Maynard marched with the group and toted a sign that read “Take a bite out of corruption. Complacency breeds tyranny” on one side and “Too big to fail is too big to allow. Support your local credit union” on the other side.
Joy Hampton 366-3539 jhampton@normantranscript.com
