Tagged: Occupy St. Louis

Tomorrow is the one year anniversary of Occupy Wall Street and local activist groups plan to mark the occasion by protesting biotechnology giant Monsanto.

Barbara Chicherio is with the Gateway Green Alliance, which opposes genetically modified organisms developed by St. Louis based Monsanto and other biotech companies.

She said tomorrow's protests will represent a shift within the Occupy movement to focus on specific issues.

About 150 activists marched outside Peabody Energy’s annual stockholder meeting in downtown St. Louis today.

The protesters decried an unfair tax code that they say allows  the energy company to dodge paying its fair share of taxes. For instance, they say Peabody paid $0 in federal income taxes in 2008 and 2009; and $0 in state income taxes in 2010.

Peabody Energy's Corporate Communications Director Meg Gallagher says, however, the group’s numbers are inaccurate.

Occupy movement protesters blocked traffic outside Bank of America's regional headquarters Tuesday in downtown St. Louis. The group, including union workers, students, retirees, and clergy, staged a mock-game of dodge ball to protest how, in their view, corporations dodge paying their fair share of taxes.  

Zach Chasnoff, an organizer for the group, says the movement chose the IRS's filing deadline to call attention to an unfair tax system that favors corporations over citizens.