Rose Bowl

A people’s parade aligned with the Occupy Wall St. movement trailed the official 2015 Tournament of Roses Parade in near-freezing temperatures Thursday morning. The Occupy the Rose Parade tradition returned for the fourth straight year in a row, joining the 126th Rose Parade in front of one million live spectators on New Year’s Day. True to their tradition, KTLA turned off their live broadcast prior to the arrival of the Occupy the Rose Parade floats and banners. The group of several dozen assembled on a side street off Orange Grove at the rear of the 39 massive corporate-sponsored fresh floral floats celebrating icons of popular culture. Astonished onlookers paused for photos with the “Overthrow Capitalism” banner and the “Stop Wall Street Banksters” message carried by several top-hat clad bankers with an oversized puppet Uncle Sam. Spectators paused to ask, “What is fracking?” in response to the 20 ft. tall flaming oil derrick declaring “Gov Brown: Don’t Frack CA.” John Lennon’s “Give Peace a Chance” played over public address system as members of Occupy Venice Beach posed with onlookers interested in their other 20 ft. tall float, showing the Constitution of the United States being shredded by a corporate sponsored paper-shredder. Another yellow sheet with red letters declared, “Money Out of Politics.”