Protesters Form Soup Line Outside GOP Fundraiser
Protesters carried Congressman Allen West's head on a stick outside a $10,000 dinner
Loud and insistent, nearly 100 people gathered outside a Republican congressional campaign fundraiser in Coral Gables to voice their displeasure with the job market.
The $10,000-a-plate dinner in the gated Snapper Creek Lakes community was held for a national Republican Congressional campaign committee.
Outside the dinner, protesters carried several South Florida congressmen's likenesses on sticks to protest the situation of the economy.
"The politicians are always telling [us] the jobs are increasing," said Redelio Eonesa, a protester who is out of work. "But I can't see that."
The protest was organized by 1Miami, a jobs-focused coalition that simulated a soup line in contrast to the wealth inside the neighborhood's gates.
"I do many jobs. I am not looking for something special," added Eonesa, a 68-year-old who came from Cuba 20 years ago. He has worked as a maintenance man and a janitor, doing whatever required hard work and dedication -- until now.
"There are nothing," he said. "You put in an application, they tell you 'I will call you.' They never call."
The protest came just 48 hours before President Barack Obama's planned speech on jobs, in which he will reportedly announce a $300 billion tax and spending cut along with a one-year extension of a payroll tax for employers.
But already, his detractors in the House of Representatives are saying they won't support the President's proposal.
"And we've got politicians here at a fundraiser, at a $10,000-a-plate dinner," fumed Jose Suarez, 1Miami's organizer. "Instead of focusing on doing the work of the people, they're in there with a bunch of lobbyists."
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