AUSTIN, Texas -- It's the Occupy scene some have grown accustomed to. Friday afternoon, Austin police made another arrest. This time, a man failing to obey a criminal trespass ban from City Hall.
"It's tough for people to come out and get the sense of things when all you see is that," said Occupy organizer Dave Cortez.
It's a perception Cortez and others are trying to change. The day after Thanksgiving, a Family Fun Black Friday event replaced the protests on City Hall plaza. Local band Unsocialized played to a crowd of a few dozen. Other kids played in a cardboard castle.
"I have an opportunity to bring them down and let them view politics as something that you have a voice in and you interact with," said Casie Becker, who brought her two nieces.
Family Fun Black Friday is just one of Occupy Austin's latest moves to improve an image tarnished by arrests and spread their message to a whole new group of people.
Starting Saturday, Occupy Austin will expand a few blocks north to the Texas Capitol. The new location also brings new rules. Occupiers will only be allowed to sleep two hours at a time. Tents will not be allowed.
The day after Thanksgiving also marked the beginning of a new Occupy movement in Bee Cave. Six dedicated protestors held signs high all day Friday.
