Occupy Miami had a peaceful first day on Saturday, with many protesters showing up for rallies in downtown Miami, according to local media reports.

Police reported more than 1,000 protesters, The Miami Herald reported, while noting the protesters marched, chanted, and carried signs.

Like Occupy Wall Street and other Occupy movements that have spread across the globe, Occupy Miami is loosely organized.

Occupy Miami is a leaderless consensus movement in solidarity with Occupy Wall Street and the worldwide Occupation Movement, according to a notice on the home page of the Occupy Miami Web site. We Are The 99% that will no longer tolerate the 1% wielding the power they gained with a promise to serve in our best interests to instead serve themselves.

The protest definitely provoked passion in Miami residents.

Not even the rain could deter Occupy Miami, one person tweeted.

But not everyone was a fan of the movement coming to South Florida.

Occupy Miami = Ridiculous, another Twitter user posted.

There are also Occupy actions in the Florida cities of Orlando and Fort Lauderdale.

Florida has been hit especially hard during the economic crisis, especially in terms of job losses, home foreclosures, and falling real-estate prices.

The unemployment rate in the Sunshine State has been at either 10 percent or more since the spring of 2009, according to the U.S. Labor Department's Bureau of Labor Statistics.

According to the BLS, the Florida unemployment rate in August was 10.7 percent.

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