It’s part of a fresh wave of protests that are taking place across the country, in the wake of the Occupy movement.

The 99% Spring Protest Movement Gets Organized

Starting next week, 99% Spring events will be kicking off across the United States, and especially in the Midwest.

Supporters are vowing to train 100,000 people to “to tell the story of what happened to our economy, learn the history of non-violent direct action, and use that knowledge to take action on our own campaigns to win change.”

Over the weekend, the UAW sent an email to its members, encouraging them to take part. “We are at a crucial point in America where if we continue to ignore the opportunity to rebuild this great country, then we risk losing the very essence of what has made this country great,” the email said. 

Some 918 events have been scheduled thus far. MoveOn.org, which is associated with the Democratic Party, has a locator for events, where you can put in your zip code and find those closest to you.

Here are the ones for the Detroit area, Chicago and Milwaukee, and Cleveland. To be sure, the 99% Spring movement hasn’t said what will happen once people are trained, but given the training events, it’s pretty clear it will meet its goal of training 100,000 people.

Are you planning to take part in 99% Spring? Let us know where and when.

A scene from southern California this afternoon, as police tried to remove Occupy protesters from the street outside a Wal-Mart distribution center.

Today, the Occupy Wall Street movement started a fresh wave of protest activity across the country. Its the first major action from the group in weeks. Organizers are hoping it won’t be the last. Today’s protests are relatively small, compared to what we saw over the summer. But other events are in the works.

Salon reports today that Occupy organizers are looking into a possible “general strike” on May 1st. If the group pulls it off, Salon says it would be the first general strike in this country in 65 years.

And the 99% Spring movement we told you about earlier this month is also gearing up. The group is planning demonstrations nationwide from April 9-15. They’re hoping to get 100,000 people to participate. Today, the call went out for people to help train the protesters. Last week, the conservative web site The Daily Caller reported that the UAW was behind the training plan. The official 99% Spring website lists a number of union participants, along with liberal groups such as MoveOn.org.

The 99% Spring Protest Movement Gets Organized

The site speaks directly to the protests that took place in Wisconsin over Gov. Scott Walker’s push to eliminate collective bargaining rights for public employees. There’s a letter from its organizers, who include King, as well as a variety of union, political and other groups.

Declares the site, “In the tradition of our forefathers and foremothers and inspired by today’s brave heroes in Occupy Wall Street and Madison, Wisconsin, we will prepare ourselves for sustained non-violent direct action.”

From April 9-15, the site says, its supporters will gather across the country — “100,000 strong, in homes, places of worship, campuses and the streets to join together in the work of reclaiming our country.”

The site says there will be training programs to a) tell the story of the economy b) learn the history of non-violent direct action and c) launch campaigns to win change.

There’s nothing more specific, but the site adds,

“This spring we rise! We will reshape our country with our own hands and feet, bodies and hearts. We will take non-violent action in the spirit of Martin Luther King, Jr. and Gandhi to forge a new destiny one block, one neighborhood, one city, one state at a time.”

Are you interested in participating in protests? What do you think about this approach?

Public employee protests continued across the region Sunday with more planned this week.

In Wisconsin, protesters moved inside the state capitol building on the seventh day of what is being called the “Battle of Madison.” Union members in Michigan, meanwhile, plan to rally in Lansing on Tuesday.

A winter storm caused protesters to move inside the capitol building Sunday, where they ringed the rotunda with signs, some toted by children whose teachers left classrooms last week to join the demonstrations. The Wisconsin State Journal has full coverage, including a photo gallery, here.

A rally in Madison on Saturday drew nearly

Photo: SEIU

70,000 people, the largest such gathering yet during a week of protests. Some people spent the night in the state capitol rotunda, according to the Associated Press.

Democratic state senators are still out of the state, many in Illinois, in order to avoid Wisconsin state troopers’ jurisdiction. On Sunday, Gov. Scott Walker, a Republican, urged them to return to debate his proposal to void collective bargaining rights for state employees.

Last month, Changing Gears reported on new governors in the region, including Wisconsin’s Scott Walker.

In Lansing, Mich., members of the United Auto Workers union plan to rally Tuesday morning at the Central United Methodist Church, near the capitol building.

What do you think of the protests? Are you a union member, or not? Tell us your views in the comments section.