ST. LOUIS • Students, laborers, retirees and the unemployed were among those participating in the Occupy St. Louis movement Friday, marching to Bank Of America's downtown headquarters as a show of solidarity against the bank's policies, organizers said.

The more than 500 in attendance joined with Occupy St. Louis to help spread the group's message: that politicians are only working for the betterment of billionaires who make up less than 1 percent of the population. That needs to change, organizers said.

"I think people are tired of their houses falling into foreclosure while the rich are getting richer," said Steve Johnson, an organizer at Teamsters Local 688.

The movement is a spinoff of Occupy Wall Street, which has spawned other similar movements with groups taking up space at venues in larger cities across the country. Members of Occupy St. Louis have camped out in Kiener Plaza since Oct. 1 in tents and sleeping bags in and around the plaza to gain support for their cause.

Workers with Service Employees International Union, Communications Workers of America and the Coalition of Black Trade Unionists were in attendance, as well as members of the Alliance for Retired Americans and Veterans for Peace.

Veronica Wandsley of Crystal City said she was marching because something needs to be done to turn the country's struggles around.

"I think all people should have the opportunity to make a living wage," said Wandsley, a field organizer for the Missouri Home Care Union. "And it's great to see such a huge, diverse crowd out here for one common cause."

Martin Walsh, 71, of Glendale, said too many people have lost jobs and homes for him to miss out on Friday's protest. He says officials from big Wall Street corporations have lied to people far too long.

"We've all suffered because of it, somehow," he said.

Protesters marched from Kiener Plaza, at 100 North Seventh Street, to Bank of America, at 800 Market Street, chanting and holding signs voicing their frustrations. "The banks get bailed out, we get sold out," was a popular rallying cry. One man held a sign calling for the "End of U.S. Corporatocracy." Many talked about being part of the 99 percent, the majority of those in the country the "Occupy" groups have said are being brushed aside. The crowd then marched down Market Street toward the Arch, where they circled the block at Fourth Street between Market and Chestnut streets, then walked back to the plaza.

Organizers invited people back to the plaza at 2 p.m. today for an organized movement to spread the word on Occupy St. Louis and its intentions.