Occupy Atlanta has spent a month in downtown Atlanta, decrying corporate influence in U.S. politics and clashing with local authorities over their right to protest at a local park.
Now the protesters are turning their attention to the suburbs, hoping to use a family of five in south Gwinnett to highlight the nation's foreclosure crisis.
"This family is the perfect example of the fraud going on in the mortgage and banking industries," said Latron Price, one of Occupy Atlanta's organizers. "We plan to shed light on the foreclosure issue and we look to make a stand here."
Nearly two dozen protesters assembled Monday afternoon at Tawanna Rorey's four-bedroom home in a neighborhood just south of Snellville, clogging the narrow, winding street that runs in front of the house with cars, vans and TV trucks. Many neighbors stopped to gawk at the spectacle and even honked their car horns in support of the crowd.
Occupy Atlanta shifted their focus to Gwinnett about 12 hours after five people were arrested near Woodruff Park in downtown Atlanta, a site that was the staging area for Wall Street protests similar to ones held in other U.S. cities.
Most members of the group showed up at the Rorey's home after the family's attorney told them the Gwinnett Sheriff's Department was prepared to evict them Monday afternoon.
A Sheriff's Department spokeswoman said the foreclosure process for the Roreys was still ongoing and that no eviction had been scheduled for that address.
Experts were doubtful that the protest could do much to help the family. Misty A. Oaks, an Atlanta lawyer who specializes in foreclosure, said sitting in at an foreclosed home won't be effective legally.
"But it certainly will make for an interesting story and bring attention to the issues surrounding foreclosures and the enormous ramifications foreclosures are having," she said.
Once an eviction notice has been entered into the system, a homeowner no longer has title to the property, and anyone on it can be forcibly removed as a trespasser, Oaks said.
That reality did little to dampen the spirit of the protesters. They set up two tents in the front yard, draped a "This Home is Occupied" sign over the porch railing and handed out bottled water and granola bars to other members.
Tim Franzen, one of Occupy Atlanta's organizers, said the group had been seeking a good story to highlight the problems with the mortgage industry. He said Rorey's husband, a law enforcement officer with DeKalb County, sent Occupy Atlanta an e-mail detailing their plight last week and within a few hours they formulated a plan to bring attention to the foreclosure.
"What I envision is a model of protest coming out of this," Franzen said. "We plan to develop an occupy community in this neighborhood and maybe create something that can be duplicated nationally."
Either way, the Roreys have placed most of their belongings in three large storage containers. They've been sleeping on mattresses for the past two weeks. And they reached out to family members in DeKalb County in case they need a place to stay.
"We're hoping something bigger takes over and leads us in the direction that we need to go," said Tawanna Rorey, a 38-year-old wife and mother of three.
Rorey's neighbor Diona Murray said she didn't have a problem with the dozens of protesters camping out in the neighborhood.
"It's a good cause," Murray said. "If we don't take a stand, who will?"
Staff writer Christopher Quinn contributed to this article
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