Occupy Wall Street West' Blocks San Francisco Bank Entrances in First Major Action This Year

(The Blaze/AP) At least 11 people have been arrested at an anti-Wall Street protest in downtown San Francisco for blocking an entrance to the Wells Fargo building in an attempt to completely shutdown the city's financial district.

A couple hundred protesters have gathered in the Financial District as part of daylong Occupy Wall Street-related demonstrations scheduled around the county demanding that banks end evictions and foreclosures. Organizers of the protest are calling it "Occupy Wall Street West."

The San Francisco Chronicle has more details:

"The protest was timed to coincide with Saturday's two-year anniversary of the Citizens United decision by the U.S. Supreme Court, which removed limits on how much money corporations could donate to political causes. Protesters, many of whom supported the Occupy movement in the fall, said the decision exacerbated the divide between the rich and poor by handing too much power to big business."

San Francisco Police Cmdr. Richard Corriea says the first arrests came when a group refused to move from their human chain blocking an entrance to Wells Fargo's corporate headquarters. Traffic was rerouted through the area, as protesters spilled into the streets.

Corriea says all the arrests have been for alleged trespassing. Protesters are continuing to try blocking bank entrances, but police in riot gear and private security guards are chasing them away.

KGO-TV has footage from the start of the protests in San Francisco:

"Occupy Wall Street West" is being called by some the first major Occupy action of 2012 after the movement went into hibernation last month following their eviction from the Bay Area while similar protest encampments were ousted across the country.

Many Occupiers still remain enthusiastic and committed to their cause. One protestor, Jessica Horn, 27, of Madison, Wis., told the SF Chronicle that "Capitalism is a system that doesn't work for the people and it must be destroyed. No landlords, no bosses, no banks."