Santa Cruz, California - At least a dozen “Occupy Wall Street” protesters were filmed as they were denied requests to close out their bank accounts at Bank of America with some being locked inside the bank and arrested during alleged clashes with bank managers.
The Huffington Post reported that Bank of America bank managers were given orders by corporate saying that a customer “couldn’t be protester and close out their account at the same time.”
A few videos have been released on YouTube showing the conflicts that were filmed in New York City, Santa Cruz, California and St. Louis Missouri as protests turned into mass account closures.
Central Coast News released a statement from Colleen Haggerty with Bank of America. “It is our responsibility to ensure a safe environment for customers to conduct financial transactions, Haggerty wrote in an e-mail. “So, due to the disruptive nature of protests lately and the potential for safety or security issues, we do not allow protestors inside our banking centers. If a customer who is participating in a protest wishes to conduct bank business, including close an account, we ask them to come back when they are not protesting or they may also conduct their bank business at a nearby branch away from protest activities.”
Haggerty went on to say that Bank of America “respects everyone’s ability to exercise their first amendment rights; however we also have to balance safety and business needs for all customers.”
The Occupy Wall Street website is asking its protesters to pull their money from banks and deposit their funds into credit unions as a protest against higher ATM fees, not loaning to its customers and corporate greed.
Video – Watch as protesters try to close their accounts at Bank of America.
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