Free Republic

Already they have interrupted Michele Bachmann and drawn a withering putdown from Newt Gingrich as “all noise, no thought.” Now, to the dismay of Iowa Republicans, Occupy activists in Des Moines are vowing to expand their protests as Republican presidential hopefuls converge on the state that speaks first in the race for the party’s presidential nomination. “The 99 percent have woken up, and we’re not going to take it anymore,” Occupy activist Stephen Toothman of Des Moines said as an advance guard met Tuesday to decide which candidates to target in the coming week. Hundreds of Occupy activists from at...

Occupy Des Moines members said Monday that they have moved their protest from President Obama's campaign office to the Iowa Democratic Party headquarters. Protesters said they are "refusing to leave until Obama vetoes the National Defense Authorization Act and starts putting all the power of his office to bear on putting communities before corporations and people before profits." The Occupy movement had been camped outside the president's campaign office in Des Moines since Saturday. Occupiers said they want Obama to cut the U.S. military budget in half and "dismantle our U.S. military empire" to create jobs. Occupiers said they want...

Smack dab in the middle of the country, surrounded by harvested corn and bean fields, cities in Iowa are experiencing their version of Occupy Wall Street. Occupy Iowa came to Des Moines and promptly found that Gov. Branstad was willing to be fair, but not be taken advantage of.

More than 30 Occupy Iowa protesters have been arrested in front of the Iowa Statehouse, reports CBS Affiliate KCCI. The demonstrators were warned twice about trespassing before the arrests began around 11 p.m. Sunday night. Iowa State Patrol officials had warned protesters that they didn't have a permit to camp on state-owned land. Officials with the Iowa Department of Public Safety said those arrested include 30 adults and two juveniles who were taken into custody.