On Wednesday evening more than 150 sympathizers with the Occupy Wall Street movement had a good natured demonstration in Palo Alto. About a dozen members of Transitioners.

The demonstrators stood on the sidewalk in front of a Bank of America branch at 2600 El Camino near Page Mill road. Demonstrators held signs, chatted and occasionally sang. Passing motorists regularly honked to show support.

The event was covered by Palo Alto Weekly, Palo Alto Post and Palo Alto News (re-printed by the Mercury News).

The Palo Alto Weekly article had a quotes from some regular attendees at TPA events:

Gerry Gras, a laid-off Palo Alto software engineer, said he lost his job two years ago because of the economy. But “if I had a job I’d want to be here,” he said, noting he would probably be working long hours that would prevent him from protesting.

… Gras waved an American flag. It’s stars were replaced with corporate logos: General Electric, Coca Cola and major news networks.

“I think things are not going to be the same afterwards,” he said of the growing movement. “I don’t know where they are going, but they’re not going to be the same.”

Barbara Weinstein and Vikki Velkoff said the protest was a way to connect with other people and to give voice to the difficulties people are facing.

“It’s really important for people who felt isolated in the face of all the miserable stuff going on to come together,” Weinstein said.

Velkoff, an early-phase drug-development researcher, was laid off in December along with hundreds of others when Roche in Palo Alto closed its facility. She will start a new job next week, she said.

“It’s good to know there are others thinking along the same lines,” she said.

Transition typically does not take political positions as an organization, Many members, however, are politically active. The Transition Movement, especially in the UK, has been having a long discussion on its relationship to political actions.

Occupy events are occurring in Santa Cruz, San Jose, San Francisco and Oakland. For local Meet-ups, see Occupy Together