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A group of Colorado Progressive Coalition members, student protesters and concerned community members gathered Friday to march on the downtown Wells Fargo on Broadway from the Tivoli Student Union building at the Auraria Campus in protest of the bank’s foreclosures, “robo-signing” practice and shareholding in the for-profit prison company Geo Group Inc.
The protest was made up of student members of multiple schools located on the Auraria Campus, as well as several DU students.
The event was part of the “Mile High Showdown,” a range of events held over the course of the past week demanding accountability by Wells Fargo and other big banks and a restructuring of Wall Street.
“Wells Fargo helps frame the conversation, but we are here to re-frame the narrative,” said protester Vicki Dillard, a member of the Colorado Progressive Coalition. “We are here to say that it’s them who are investing in Geo, them imprisoning minorities and tearing up families.”
On Monday Oct. 24, over 300 members of Wells Fargo closed their accounts with the bank to help enforce their demands that Wells Fargo pay their federally required 35 percent tax rate, divest from for-profit prisons, reset home mortgages to market value and expand small business lending programs.
Friday’s march featured protesters ranging in age from young children to elderly members of the community, though most were students. Many marching were dressed in Robin Hood attire, and several dressed as Wells Fargo bankers wearing bull masks and pulling a cardboard “jailcart” with students inside. They were escorted by a police liaison, which ensured that the crowd was able to march and protest safely.
Wells Fargo was not open when protesters arrived. A sign on the door said the bank had shut down for an emergency and would reopen as soon as possible.
An issue gaining much of the attention from the protests is Wells Fargo’s shareholdings with Geo Group Inc., which runs Immigration Customs Enforcement, a for-profit prison for immigration detainment.
According to a release by the Colorado Progressive Coalition, the bank controls 5.54 percent of Geo Group, making it the third largest institutional shareholder.
Geo recently signed a new 10-year contract to manage its Aurora Processing Center, which calls for the number of beds to increase from 432 to 524. At this full occupancy, Geo is estimated to add $23 million in annualized revenues to their shareholders.
“This is a protest against corporate greed culture,” said Joe Deras, a member of Politically Active Students. “We are here because Wells Fargo is emblematic of the entire problem.”
The actions against Wells Fargo and other large investment banks are planned to continue throughout the next several weeks in solidarity with the Occupy Wall Street movement.
