Despite rain and temperatures in the 40s, Occupy Athens protestors met at the Arch Friday night to continue promoting economic justice.

The protests, a regular event every Friday from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m., are a way for the Occupiers to continue promoting their goals now that they no longer have tents set up at the Arch. Drivers and passersby have responded more positively this time than in the past, said John Ahearn II, a member of Occupy Athens who will be working with the UGA police starting in March.

“Especially when we had the tents up, we had a lot of negative reactions,” said Carter Adams, a member of Occupy Athens who works for EITS at the University. “Some of the people who disagreed with us were pretty inebriated.”

At the Arch on Friday, the protestors collected signatures on a petition against corporate personhood – the idea that corporations are legally people and have some of the same rights as a person. Occupy Athens is also speaking out against the proposed construction of a Walmart in downtown Athens.

“We’re pursuing any course of action to stop the construction of the Walmart,” Adams said. “It’s anathema to what Athens is.”

Occupy Athens has filed open records requests for documents containing negotiations between Athens mayor Nancy Denson and Selig Enterprises, the developer planning the Walmart.

“What Nancy Denson is doing is not right,” said Ahearn, who was asked to leave a commission meeting Thursday night because he had a sign opposing the construction of the Walmart. “Closed-door meetings – there needs to be a recall.”

On a national level, Occupy Athens sent several members to Washington D.C. to join thousands of protestors, said Lake Maner, an Occupy Athens member and a graduate student of entomology at the University. The Athens protestors talked to congressman Paul Broun and marched from the Capitol Building to the White House and the Supreme Court.

“It was a wonderful expression of the rights of America,” Maner said.