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'Occupy' in the 'burbs: Orderly, larger than expected

They waved protest placards, they chanted slogans, they nibbled free gourmet pizza samples.

They waved protest placards, they chanted slogans, they nibbled free gourmet pizza samples.

The "Occupy" phenomenon went suburban Thursday.

About 150 aggrieved but well-scrubbed souls hit the sidewalks of Doylestown's busiest intersection in the late-afternoon drizzle, proclaiming solidarity with the Occupy Wall Street movement that has spread nationwide.

Impassioned but orderly, the protesters waved signs such as "Tax Millionaires" and "Nov. 8 - Occupy the Voting Booth."

They joined with local activist Marlene Pray, a borough council candidate, who led them in chants:

"Tax the top! Tax the top!"

"Jobs, not cuts!"

"They say cutbacks, we say fight back!"

Less occupation than demonstration, the two-hour stand clogged most of the sidewalks at State and Main Streets, the turnout trebling the 50 or so that Pray had predicted earlier in the week.

"This has quickly rippled into a lot more interest than we thought we would have in Doylestown," she said. "This is a very local crowd, but there are also demonstrations happening all over the region this week, so people are paying attention."

Pray and other local organizers have said that close to 1,400 similar events are taking place nationwide to support the larger groups of protesters who have encamped in larger cities for weeks.

The movement, begun Sept. 17, in Manhattan, bills itself as a grassroots reply to corporate greed, Wall Street corruption and the growing disparity between rich and poor.

"I'm tired of the greed, the lack of civility in government and the stalemate over any policies that hold the potential for providing jobs," said Kyle St. Claire, 66, a retired Episcopal minister whose sign read: "Greed is sooooo last decade."

Unlike St. Claire, who has attended antiwar protests as far back as the '60s, many of Thursday's demonstrators were first-timers.

Among them was Sandy Becker, 56, who holds a masters degree in science but has been unable to get a job in the medical field for the past year and a half.

"I've never had trouble finding work until now," she said. "This is my first time at a demonstration. I am just very angry and frustrated that people are fighting to work, and the Republicans keep opposing President Obama's efforts to provide jobs."

With her stood 17-year-old classmates Mike Jess and Mike Forgeng, seniors at Central Bucks High School South.

"I did have college plans, but it's too expensive," Jess said. He plans to save for tuition by continuing to work at a Chalfont grocery store after graduation.

"It doesn't seem right that corporate money has more say in government than the people themselves do," said Forgeng, who has attended the Occupy Philadelphia demonstrations. "I like that these protests are spreading."

In Doylestown, at least, civility trumped vitriol in spite of the underlying frustration.

A local tea-party group, denouncing the demonstration as "silly" and "sad," had planned a counterprotest, but failed to show.

"We'll bet they get a Starbucks latte first. . .," the conservative group's news release had said. "Who are they protesting in this charming, artsy enclave?"

Some members of the group did drive by in a minivan, unfurling a "Don't Tread on Me" flag as they passed.

Spotting them, Pray just waved and smiled.

"They're my neighbors," she said.