Occupy Wall Street activists say they aren't giving up their fight to use public spaces.
Police cleared out encampments of protesters in Los Angeles and Philadelphia last week, and protesters have not been allowed to spend the night in New York's Zuccotti Park since Nov. 15.
But protesters who gathered at Zuccotti on Saturday said the movement to challenge economic inequality would not die.
Protester Laura Gottesdiener said the movement would push to "reoccupy" public spaces on Dec. 17, the three-month birthday of Occupy Wall Street. About 100 protesters attended the rally.
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The protesters, who have not been allowed to spend the night at Zuccotti since Nov. 15, pressed for access to an alternative space owned by a historic New York church.
The protesters want Trinity Wall Street, an Episcopal church that dates to the colonial era, to let them use a vacant lot it owns at Sixth Avenue and Canal Street. The fenced-in property was the scene of arrests on Nov. 15.
"They say, `Ask and you shall receive,'" protester Zak Solomon said. "We need that space."
Three protesters said they were starting a hunger strike Saturday to try to pressure Trinity to let them use the vacant lot.
A spokesman for Trinity said the lot "is not available nor is it suitable for large-scale assemblies or encampments."
The spokesman, Lloyd Kaplan, added that the church "supports the vigorous engagement of the issues which Occupy Wall Street has raised."
Other activists were staging 24 hours of street performances on Broadway near Times Square.
Saturday's lineup was to include playwright Adam Rapp, actress Kathleen Chalfant, who was in the original Broadway cast of "Angels in America" and cast members from the touring production of "Hair."
Three protesters started a hunger strike Saturday to get Trinity Church to give them access to a vacant lot in downtown Manhattan.
Others are staging 24 hours of street performances on Broadway near Times Square.
Copyright AP - Associated Press
