October 08, 2011,

CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Speakers at an Occupy Cleveland rally near the Free Stamp in Willard Park said the movement was endorsed today by supporters on the left and the right, which tells them they are on to something.

"The board of directors of Ben and Jerry's Ice Cream said today they backed the movement," Chris Sobolewski told a crowd of about 200 people Saturday afternoon. "Then we learned that Fed Up USA, one of the founding groups of the Tea Party also support the movement.

"I figure any time you can get a bunch of hippies who make ice cream and a bunch of right-wingers to agree then you've got something," he said.

Signs bearing slogans like "Where's our loophole?" "Greed will be the end of America" and the timely "Vote no on issue 2" were everywhere at the park.

Sobolewski, 29, of Painesville Township, said the protests are just the beginning and would continue until fundamental charges are made.

"One percent of the people control 40 percent of the wealth," he said. "If you are among the 99 percent, if you work for a company that is laying off people while making record profits, this is your movement."

Demonstrators marched from the park to Cleveland State University and back to City Hall Saturday afternoon.

Earlier in the week, 34 protesters slept on a downtown sidewalk near Public Square and some said they intend to camp out indefinitely downtown or nearby.

http://blog.cleveland.com/metro/2011/10/occupy_cleveland_movement_c...