Occupy protest follows 123rd annual Rose Parade
CORRECTS NUMBER OF PROTESTERS TO HUNDREDS, NOT THOUSANDS - Occupy protesters march along Colorado Boulevard during the 123rd Tournament of Roses Parade in Pasadena, Calif., Monday, Jan. 2, 2012. Several hundred Occupy protesters marched at the end of the Rose Parade in a pre-arranged demonstration. (AP Photo/Ringo H.W. Chiu)
The float "Preserving Paradise" sponsored by Dole, awarded top honors as the Sweepstakes award winner, is seen in the 123rd Rose Parade in Pasadena, Calif., Monday, Jan. 2, 2012. (AP Photo/Reed Saxon)
The Donate Life float "One More Day," carrying organ recipients and family members of organ donors, is seen in the 123rd Rose Parade in Pasadena, Calif., Monday, Jan. 2, 2012. (AP Photo/Reed Saxon)
Roxanna Green, right, holds a portrait of her 9-year-old daughter Taylor Green, who died in a gunman's rampage in Tucson, Ariz., in January, 2011, with other relatives holding portraits of their love ones who became organ donors, aboard the Donate Life float in the 123rd Rose Parade in Pasadena, Calif., Monday, Jan. 2, 2012. (AP Photo/Reed Saxon)
Roy Rogers Jr., right, and his son Dustin Rogers wave as they sing "Happy Trails" aboard the RFD-TV float, in honor of the centenary of the cowboy star's birth, in the 123rd Rose Parade in Pasadena, Calif., Monday, Jan. 2, 2012. The float won the Tournament Special trophy. (AP Photo/Reed Saxon)
CORRECTS NUMBER OF PROTESTERS TO HUNDREDS, NOT THOUSANDS - An Occupy protester with a sign marches along Colorado Boulevard during the 123rd Tournament of Roses Parade in Pasadena, Calif., Monday, Jan. 2, 2012. Several hundred Occupy protesters marched at the end of the Rose Parade in a pre-arranged demonstration. (AP Photo/Ringo H.W. Chiu)
Police cars lead members of the Occupy movement as they march along Colorado Boulevard during the 123rd Tournament of Roses Parade in Pasadena, Calif., Monday, Jan. 2, 2012. (AP Photo/Ringo H.W. Chiu)
PASADENA, Calif. >> The 2012 Tournament of Roses brought its flowery floats and strutting bands to a worldwide audience Monday under clear blue skies, and in its wake came a scruffier parade — thousands of anti-Wall Street protesters.
The 123rd annual New Year’s Day event, with the theme "Just Imagine," flowed along downtown Pasadena to the cheers of hundreds of thousands of sidewalk spectators.
An estimated 40 million people viewed this year’s procession of 44 floats, 16 marching bands and 22 equestrian troupes on U.S. television.
There were 10 arrests overnight, including four felonies, as thousands of spectators staked out viewing places along the route but that figure was down from the previous year, police said.
"Everything went very, very well. We’re very pleased," police Lt. Phlunte Riddle said.
On the heels of the two-hour parade came several thousand anti-Wall Street protesters in a pre-arranged demonstration.
The thunder of the retreating marching bands mingled in the air with chants of "Banks got bailed out, we got sold out" as the Occupy the Rose Parade demonstrators retraced about 1.5 miles of the 5.5-mile parade route before veering off for a rally near City Hall.
They carried a 250-foot-long banner that said "We the People" to represent the U.S. Constitution. Some also held a 70-foot-long octopus made from recycle plastic bags that represented the tentacles of perceived corporate greed.
"This is about getting money out of politics," said Greg Stevens, a 38-year-old public health lecturer at the University of Southern California. "I support everything this movement is about."
As the protesters marched by, some Rose Parade spectators yelled "get a job" while others snapped photos and cheered.
"It’s kind of crazy but kind of exciting," said Alana Olvick, 26, of Valencia, Calif.
The ragtag group of protesters made an interesting comparison to the slick, glittering Rose Parade offerings.
"It’s contradicting the parade," Olvick said.
Behind the protesters came three truckloads of Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputies in riot gear but no arrests were immediately made and the protest was noisy but peaceful.
Police did not release an official count but Occupy the Rose Parade organizer Pete Thottam estimated the crowd of protesters at 5,000.
Police, parade and city officials held numerous meetings with the protest organizers to ensure that they did not disrupt the parade.
Heightened security is nothing new to the parade, which took place on Jan. 2 this year because New Year’s Day falls on a Sunday.
Police also stepped up measures after 9/11 and the Y2K threat, and have regularly dealt with protests through the years ranging from anti-Vietnam war demonstrators to Native Americans incensed at the choice of a descendant of Christopher Columbus as grand marshal.
This year’s parade featured Iraq war veteran J.R. Martinez as grand marshal, the children and grandchildren of Roy Rogers on a float commemorating cowboys, and the parents of Christina-Taylor Green, the 9-year-old girl killed in the mass shooting that injured U.S. Rep Gabrielle Giffords last year, on the Donate Life float honoring organ donors. The Greens donated their daughter’s corneas.
The 2012 parade was the first in 58 years without the famed Anheuser-Busch Clydesdale horses after the company withdrew in a change of marketing strategy.
