John Minchillo

ASSOCIATED PRESS: Occupy Wall Street

In mid-2011, what began as a small protest of a few dozen frustrated citizens in New York City's financial district grew into a nationwide movement against corporate greed and social imbalances large enough to dominate the news waves. Before long, clashes with heavy-handed authorities became routine despite constant efforts to remain peaceful. The Occupy protests that soon spread worldwide revealed the dissatisfaction of the middle classes, focused attention on how police are used to enforce the status quo, and reminded many of the revolutionary spirit and pitfalls of the 1960's.

All Images Copyright Associated Press

Angel Soto, 32, of Staten Island, meditates at the Occupy Wall Street protests in Zuccotti Park, Sunday, Nov. 6, 2011, in New York.(AP Photo/John Minchillo)
   
Police officers on scooters follow along a mass of Occupy Wall Street protestors as they march towards Times Square the day after demonstrators successfully resisted a potential eviction from their camp in Zuccotti Park, Saturday, Oct. 15, 2011, in New York.(AP Photo/John Minchillo)
   
An Occupy Wall Street protestor is grabbed by police as he tries to escape a scuffle in Zuccotti Park, Thursday, Nov. 17, 2011, in New York. Two days after the encampment that sparked the global Occupy movement was cleared by authorities, demonstrators marched through the financial district and promised mass gatherings in other cities.(AP Photo/John Minchillo)
     
  
Break dancers have a "battle" in front of the Occupy Wall Street drummers in Zuccotti Park, Sunday, Oct. 30, 2011, in New York. To some, the drummers are an energizing force of the protest. But to others, even some activists, they are "a poisonous people" whose relentless pounding beat was eventually limited to four hours a day.(AP Photo/John Minchillo)
   
A pedestrian browses protest posters at the Occupy Wall Street camp at Zucotti park, Tuesday, Sept. 20, 2011, in New York.(AP Photo/John Minchillo)
   
Protesters from Occupy Wall Street march through New York's financial district dressed as corporate zombies Monday, Oct. 3, 2011. The protests gathered momentum and gained participants as news of mass arrests and a coordinated media campaign by the protestors have given rise to similar demonstrations around the country.(AP Photo/John Minchillo)
     
  
Occupy Wall Street protestor Alexi Morris is arrested along with five others in the financial district's Zucotti park, Monday, Oct. 3, 2011, in New York.(AP Photo/John Minchillo)
   
An Occupy Wall Street protestor erects a used army-issue tent in Zuccotti Park, Saturday, Nov. 5, 2011, in New York. Although structures are technically prohibited in the park, the majority of park ground is covered with camping tents and the protest organizers are planning to install more of these larger, sturdier tents to combat the looming winter months.(AP Photo/John Minchillo)
   
Occupy Wall Street protestors charge high-capacity boat batteries with bicycles retrofitted with small generators attached to their wheels in Zuccotti Park, Sunday, Oct. 30, 2011, in New York.(AP Photo/John Minchillo)
     
  
An lone Occupy Wall Street protestor plays a drum during a snowstorm in Zuccotti Park, Saturday, Oct. 29, 2011, in New York. The first snowstorm of the season tested the protestors resolve as they huddle in tents and prepare for an increasingly difficult winter with donated food and clothing.(AP Photo/John Minchillo)
   
Protestors at Occupy Wall Street's media area coordinate news updates on laptop computers powered by a portable gas-powered generator in Manhattan's financial district's Zuccotti park, Sunday, Oct. 2, 2011, in New York. The Occupy Wall Street demonstration started out small, with less than a dozen college students, but grew to include thousands of people in communities across the country.(AP Photo/John Minchillo)
   
A demonstrator affiliated with Occupy Wall Street protests scuffles with a police officer during a march near the financial district's Zucotti park, Monday, Oct. 12, 2011, in New York as the protest entered it's fourth week.(AP Photo/John Minchillo)
     
  
Occupy Wall Street demonstrators carry signs through Times Square during a march on banks in the midtown area, Friday, Oct. 28, 2011, in New York. Nearly 400 Occupy Wall Street protesters carried what they said were 7,000 letters of complaint to offices of banks they accuse of corporate greed.(AP Photo/John Minchillo)
   
Police officers stand guard as employees look out at marching Occupy Wall Street protestors at the JP Morgan Chase corporate headquarters on Park Avenue, Friday, Oct. 28, 2011, in New York.(AP Photo/John Minchillo)
   
"Occupy Lego Land," a miniature version of the Occupy Wall Street protests made with children's building blocks is frozen in an indefinite protest on a table in Zuccotti Park, Sunday, Nov. 6, 2011, in New York.(AP Photo/John Minchillo)
     
  
Police officers arrest an Occupy Wall Street protestor as hundreds march towards Wall Street after being heartened by a postponement of a scheduled cleanup of their camp at Zuccotti park that many saw as a de facto eviction, Friday, Oct. 14, 2011, in New York.(AP Photo/John Minchillo)
   
Police officers order Occupy Wall Street protesters to leave Zuccotti Park, their longtime encampment in New York, early Tuesday, Nov. 15, 2011. At about 1 a.m. Tuesday, police handed out notices from the park's owner, Brookfield Office Properties, saying the city demanded the park had to be cleared because it had become unsanitary and hazardous. Protesters were told they could return, but without sleeping bags, tarps or tents.(AP Photo/John Minchillo)
   
An Occupy Wall Street protestor draws contact from a police officer near Zuccotti Park after being ordered to leave the longtime encampment in New York, Tuesday, Nov. 15, 2011, in New York, after police ordered demonstrators to leave their encampment in Zuccotti Park.(AP Photo/John Minchillo)
     
  
People are taken into custody after police ordered Occupy Wall Street protesters to leave Zuccotti Park, their longtime encampment in New York, early Tuesday, Nov. 15, 2011.(AP Photo/John Minchillo)
   
A sanitation worker rolls up police tape in an empty Zuccotti Park after police forcefully removed the Occupy Wall Street protestors, discarding their tents and belongings in dumpsters and garbage trucks, Tuesday, Nov. 15, 2011, in New York.(AP Photo/John Minchillo)