At 10 a.m. the crowd began to gather. Paint, brushes and poster boards littered the sidewalks as hands etched their messages.

Protesters gathered at the Arch Thursday morning in support of the Occupy Wall Street. AJ REYNOLDS/Staff

What was once a small group became 40 people by 11 a.m. with the addition of passersbys and late-risers. The word spread and three dogs, four children and a drummer joined the group. One of the children sitting on the Arch steps held a sign: “Someday I would like a job.”

Protesters came at every age from eldest man to a baby being carried by his chanting mother. Emily Silva, a freshman studio art major from Athens, said like the kids among this crowd, she began protesting early on — at age 9.

While Silva was protesting the war with her mother at the median between the Arch and downtown Athens ten years ago, a passing car threw a cement block, which hit her in the leg.

“It gave me an early sense of injustice,” Silva said.

Silva and other protesters said the event was supposed to draw awareness to the protests on Wall Street. For students such as Katie Austin, a sophomore photography major from Atlanta, holding a sign and educating students at the arch was a way to show solidarity with the Wall Street protesters.

“I can’t be there in New York,” Austin said. “Making it an international movement is only going to strengthen my comrades in New York.”

Perhaps it was her sign reading “Stop suckin’ on that corporate teet” or her obvious passion that drew Zach Hogue, a senior marketing major from Marietta, to curiously ask, “What exactly is going on?”

Austin explained the crisis on Wall Street as well as the reasons behind the movement.

“It’s relevant and it’s real and you are part of that 99 percent,” she told him. “Miniunimun wage is not a living wage.”

Hogue related today’s event to trips he had taken abroad.

“I hate that there’s inequality,” Hogue said. “I’ve seen it. There’s rough poverty and I’ve seen it around the world.”

By 2 p.m., the protesters had grown to around 75 and the crowd was making it difficult to navigate around the Arch, which quickly drew attention from nearby students.

Passerby Brooke Lane, a senior public relations major from Thomasville who did not participate in the event, said she understood why students were concenerned about “corporate terrorism” and thought the protest was raising awareness on campus.

“With the way things are right now, I’m not suprised there is a protest,” Lane said. “Even if you disagree, you’ll still think about it.”