WNEM TV 5 '99 Percent' protest hits Saginaw

And it's not just the "Occupy Wall Street" movement speaking out against financial inequality. A group calling themselves the "99-percent" was also protesting today.

In what the group called "a peaceful demonstration that is one of hundreds across the country," dozens of unemployed lead a protest with fellow "99 percenters" at locations across Mid-Michigan.

The protest was held on a broken Saginaw bridge on Thursday.

"This bridge shows that there's plenty of work that needs doing," says Larry Benjamin of Saginaw Township. "And we're here today to show that there are plenty of people ready to go to work."

The demonstration, one of hundreds slated for Thursday across the country, is urging U.S. Representative Dave Camp - who represents Michigan's 4th Congressional District and is a member of the Congressional Super Committee - to take action to fix the nation's broken economy, symbolized by the structurally deficient Saginaw Bridge over Swan Creek along M-46.

"I'm here to support this bridge action. [I] Hope the Congress will create some legislation that will create some jobs instead of cutting jobs," said protestor Mick Furlough.  

The action comes on the eve of the Super Committee's expected recommendations to cut social programs such as Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security, cuts that the group claims will trigger more unemployment.

The group says instead that repairing the nation's infrastructure would create millions of jobs and place our economy on a strong footing for years to come.

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