The Occupy movement returns to St. Louis today with the activists kicking off a four-day regional conference the group views as a new chapter in its commitment to rectifying social and economic inequality.
"Spring is the time to get back on the street so we can take the country back from corporate interests and electoral politics," said Rachael Perrotta representing Occupy Chicago. "It's time to return it to the 99 percent."
Between 300 to 600 activists from Texas, Iowa, Michigan, Nebraska, Tennessee, Connecticut, Oklahoma, Minnesota, Illinois and Indiana are expected to attend.
Perrotta would not rule out the possibility of the movement again encamping in Kiener Plaza, the downtown St. Louis park the group occupied for six weeks last fall.
The group will decide on an encampment after determining if the area can otherwise meet its housing needs, Perrotta said.
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Attendees will spend the four days attending workshops and teach-ins on economic and social issues.
"This is an educational forum first and foremost," emphasized Susie Chasnoff of St. Louis.
A march from Kiener Plaza to the grounds of the Gateway Arch is scheduled for 5 p.m. today.
The group said it will also mount protests challenging the financial policies of Bank of America and the influence of St. Louis-based Monsanto Corp. on the worldwide food supply.
Organizers would not specify what form the protests would take.
The majority of the weekend's activities will take place in the Tower Grove and South Grand Avenue neighborhoods.
Kiener Plaza will be off limits to Occupy on Saturday because organizers of the annual St. Patrick's Day parade through downtown St. Louis previously obtained a permit to use the park.
Occupy activists descended on Kiener with tents and rhetoric last October in a revolving cast with as few as 20 and sometimes as many as 150 protesters.
St. Louis police cleared the encampment on Nov. 11.