Craig Glover/The London Free Press

More than a dozen firefighters and paramedics rolled into Springbank Park after a man was found lying face down at the bottom of a steep embankment along the Thames River just east of Boler Road on Sunday.

While it remains unclear how the man came to be at the edge of the river, a couple taking an afternoon stroll heard his calls for help after noticing his abandoned bike at the edge of a nearby pathway and called for help.

Firefighters quickly deployed technical rescue equipment, anchoring ropes to trees and donning harnesses to aid in the operation, as close to a dozen people gathered to watch from a nearby bridge.

“When we got to him, the man was having seizures by the river,” London Fire Department Platoon Chief Paul Carew said at the scene. “We initiated a low angle rescue and found him to have no observable injuries.”

The man was seen to be communicating with firefighters and paramedics as he was brought up the embankment, shaking hands with his rescuers once safely at the top.

Carew credits the extensive training firefighters undergo in executing an effective rescue.

“I’m a great believer in the axiom that practice makes perfect. There is no such thing as too much training because the real thing will often throw you a curve you’re not ready for.”

The grateful cyclist took time to thank the woman who discovered him, giving her a hug, before being loaded into an ambulance.

craig.glover@sunmedia.ca

twitter.com/CraigatLFPress

The 23-year-old from Crewe will undoubtedly be one of the favourites for BMX gold having won three world titles in the last five years while she also claimed glory in the Olympic test event back in August.

That victory made up for the disappointment of missing out on the final at this year’s World Championships in Denmark, when a wrist injury hampered her preparations, and now Reade will head into the biggest year of her life in confident mood.

She also has an outside chance of representing Great Britain on the track in the team sprint alongside Victoria Pendleton, although Jessica Varnish is currently in pole position to take that spot.

Reade made an instant impact during her first year of track cycling in 2007 by claiming world gold with Pendleton and 12 months later they retained their title in Manchester.

However, since Reade took silver in the same event in 2009, Varnish has become Pendleton’s team-mate and together the duo managed to win European gold earlier this year as well as taking second place at the World Championships.

The BMX specialist said: “I did a block of training for the track over a few weeks this winter to see where I was at and things were going really well but it’s just trying to find the time to combine them both.

“I think at this point my main focus going into London 2012 is the BMX but if Jess gets injured or anything else happens then I’m sure I can step up to the mark and perform on the track. I’m more of a reserve but I am also still keeping that door open.

“I don’t want to close it and think I’ll never do it again.”

Reade admits being selected to compete in the velodrome would be a ‘bonus’ but is also wary that doing too much track cycling could hinder her BMX bid.

She said: “The skill level for BMX is always being raised and you’ve always got to reassess where the sport is heading so I’ve got to make sure I’m not just strong and fit but also technically at the top of my game.

“If I do track cycling it does slightly compromise the BMX. So at this point I’ve just got to see how it all goes and if anything happens to Jess or if they do call upon me then I need to be in the right shape to perform at the Olympics.

“Doing two completely different sports, it’s always going to be a bonus if I get selected for the track because I’m not 50:50 in terms of how I prioritise. I’m always around 90% BMX and 10% track timewise so if I made it off just that much dedication then to make the team it would be a huge bonus, regardless of my results of the Olympics.

“But I need to be very mindful that I don’t take anything away from my BMX.”

Pressure

Reade will be well prepared for the pressure of an Olympics next year having been forced to deal with sky high expectations at the age of just 19 when she headed to the Beijing Games in 2008 labelled as a nailed-on gold medallist.

There she suffered a heartbreaking fall in the final to miss out on the medals but hopes that could be a blessing in disguise.

She said: “I really wanted to win the Olympics in Beijing but if I had done so I would have won everything I could have. Would I then have had the same motivation and determination as I do now heading into London?

“I don’t really think I would, because I would have achieved everything.

“Every day you have it in the back of your mind that you want to become Olympic champion and I’ve never been that before. I really want to know what it feels like.

“What happened in Beijing has helped me grow up as a person and an athlete and it’s given me more motivation for the home Olympics.”

Reade’s triumph in the recent test event certainly gives her a psychological edge over her biggest rivals – including world champion Mariana Pajon of Colombia and New Zealand’s Sarah Walker – and she hopes there will be more opportunities to race on the Olympic track before the Games begin.

She said: “When me and my coach sat down last winter to set our goals for 2011, I put the test event higher than the World Championships.

“We got a lot of positives from the event and it was a big boost for me but we’ve also picked up on things we know we need to work on.

“It was probably one of the best feelings I’ve had from a BMX race because of the home crowd. I’ve obviously raced in front of home crowds on the track in this country but usually it’s in the sprint or team sprint when Victoria Pendleton takes most of the cheers.

“So the way the crowd responded to me at the test event was something I’ll never forget and at the Olympics it will be an amazing experience just to race as the capacity will be much bigger by then.

“The British team are pushing to get access to the track but we’re waiting for that answer and we’ll have to wait and see what happens.”

Preparation

Three months before the Olympics, Reade will get another chance to perform in front of a British crowd at the World Championships in Birmingham, which she feels will be the perfect preparation for London.

She said: “If the world championships were in another country, you’d only get a few British people out there supporting you. So to have a packed crowd in Birmingham next year just a few months before the Olympics will be great.

“If we could sit down and say what the best preparation would be for us, then it would be to have the world championships on home soil next year.

“It will be like a mini Olympics with all the top girls there in front of lots of people – it will be the perfect event to build me up for the games.”

Reade is desperate to make her family proud in London but knows she’s also got the responsibility to inspire the next generation of cyclists in this country.

She said: “My mum and my granddad have always been massive motivators for me. My mum had me as a teenager so she was young and a one-parent family so I’ve always wanted to make her proud.

“But also my nan and granddad helped bring me up and put so much into me so I’ve always wanted to repay them.

“I’ve never thought of myself as a role model but now I do have a lot of people who look up to me so it’s important to be a figurehead in UK sport for BMX.

“I’ll always be biased but I do believe BMX is the best cycling sport to get into, even if it’s not where you end up in terms of a career. It’s the cheapest one because you can get a BMX bike for under £100 from most shops and there’s a lot more tracks being built now.

“It’s a great way to get fit and enjoy riding your bike with your friends and have a laugh.”

Olympic British athlete Shanaze Reade stars in the latest track for Cadbury Dairy Milk’s Keep Singing Keep Team GB Pumped campaign, as part of its London 2012 Olympic Games sponsorship, which aims to get the nation singing along to show their support for Team GB. For more information visit http://keepourteampumped.com.

IT PROMISES to be 2012’s most astonishing sporting extravaganza of its kind.

And with its generous Government subsidy and host of eye-catching events spread out over 16 days next summer, Ministers hope it will capture the imagination of the assembled global press pack.

It is, of course the… err… first ever World Alternative Games being held in Llanwrtyd Wells.

While London gears up for the Olympics and the likes of Usain Bolt in the 100m, Mid Wales will play host to the somewhat wackier delights of wife carrying, underwater hockey, world bathtub championships and stone skimming.

And while the UK’s largest city gets a specially-crafted state of the art torch carried proudly from community to community, its smallest town – already famous for its bog snorkelling championships and man-v-horse race – will feature a water-filled saucepan at its opening ceremony.

But in case anyone was worrying that the bog had been left behind, there will also be the world bog snorkelling event, world mountain bike bog snorkelling and, of course, the world bog triathlon championships.

The Welsh Government said it was hoping the “quirky” event would provide a high profile platform for raising Wales’ international reputation and is ploughing £50,000 into making it happen.

Details of what will be on offer were revealed yesterday.

Organisers say the inaugural alternative games, which will run from August 17 to September 2, has an ethos of “the taking part that is more important than the winning” and all competitors will be awarded a “Corinthian Medal” for their efforts.

The official opening ceremony will draw on Llanwrtyd Wells’ history as a spa town. A “sospan fach” (little saucepan) containing the area’s sulphurous water from its original source will be carried by chariot to town centre.

A more formal evening ceremony will include local male voice choirs and “other exciting drum and bass music for the younger generation”.

Powys council and local businesses are also getting behind the event.

First Minister Carwyn Jones said: “One of the key principles of Event Wales, our major events strategy, is that we should encourage a spread of major event opportunities across Wales by supporting a programme of growth events outside Cardiff.

“We are also committed to support innovative, experimental and quirky events and this event will deliver a positive economic impact for Mid Wales and provide a high profile platform for raising Wales’ international reputation.”

Roger Williams, MP for Brecon and Radnorshire, said: “An event that brings more people to the area and provides local people and businesses with greater income has my backing.”

Visit the games’ website at www.worldalternativegames.co.uk

‘);

tm.siteLife.daapi.getArticle(
“54-91466-29848770″,
function(article){
tm.siteLife.display.displayCommentCount(
article,
‘sitelife-commentsWidget-middle’,
false,
‘Comments’,
true,
false
);
}
);
})();//call anonymous function
//]]

Commuter cyclist

Cyclists have been urged to get insurance by the Association of British Insurers (ABI) the insurance body whose members last year made a combined loss of £1.2billion*. The ABI warns that failure to get adequate cover could leave cyclists facing high bills if they are injured in an accident or are found responsible for causing one.

Speaking to the BBC ABI spokesman Malcolm Tarling said:

“If you are a cyclist and you are involved in an accident the chance of you being injured are quite high,

“Some 230 cyclists a month are killed or seriously injured on the roads so there is a good chance you are going to be off work for weeks, if not months, so some sort of insurance to cover you for loss of income makes sense.”

According to the Department for Transport’s reported casualty statistics last year 111 cyclists lost their lives on Britain’s roads with rural roads again proving the most dangerous places to ride. Cycling casualties have though dropped by 30 per cent on UK roads as judged against the DfT’s own average based on the casualty rates between 1994-98 at the same time cycle usage has gone up by 20 per cent. The total numbers of cyclists killed or seriously injured on British roads was 2771 in 2010 of which 2660 were seriously injured (up 56 on the previous year), 4627 cyclists were slightly injured. When judged against the 94-98 average per billion vehicle miles the number of cyclist killed or seriously injured has dropped by 40 per cent, although there was a 1 per cent rise in 2010 over 2009.  In fact it is more dangerous to be a pedestrian on Britain’s roads than a cyclist.

So, while cycling  on Britain’s roads might not be as safe as we would like it to be it is certainly safer than it was in the recent past.

Mr Tarling went on to tell the BBC that cyclists often underestimate the risks they face  on the roads, in particular if they are in an accident where they are found to be at fault themselves.

“If you are a cyclist and you are involved in an accident and you are at fault for causing it you could be sued for damages,” he says.
This could possibly amount to hundreds or thousands of pounds, he told the BBC.

“If you are cyclist you should always have some form of liability insurance. It is essential.”

While we would say that personal injury cover and third party liability are definitely  things that responsible cyclists should consider it might also be observed that Mr Tarling is possibly over-playing his hand here. According to a DfT study cyclists were found to be a fault in only 7 per cent of the incidents they were involved a fact reflected in the low premiums for such insurance.

If you are injured by another road user and they are at fault your expenses will be covered by their insurance company, if they don’t have any insurance you can claim compensation through the Motor Insurer’s Bureau a body funded by the insurance industry to compensate the victims of uninsured drivers. Although it should also be said that this is likely to a slow process and the compensation on offer may not fully compensate for your loss or suffering.

If you are unsure of the level of cover that you have as a cyclist it is first worth checking whether any of the extras provided in your home and contents policy or with any other insurance policies you hold. Some, though by no means all home contents cover includes bicycles, in some cases the cover is quite generous and will extend to use out of the home too. Likewise some home insurance will include personal injury cover and/or personal liability cover too again though there are big differences in the level of cover provided.

If you don’t have any cover or you think the insurance cover you do have there are a number of insurance companies like Cycleguard offering policies which you can tailor specifically to your needs. Some form of insurance is also part of the package when you take out membership of cycling organisation such as CTC – third party cover; British Cycling third party cover + accident cover depending on membership type; or the London Cycling Campaign – third party and public liability cover. All of those organisations also offer extra insurance  for you, or your bike.

*Source UK Insurance – Key Facts (pub: ABI, Sept 2011)

IT PROMISES to be 2012’s most astonishing sporting extravaganza of its kind.

And with its generous Government subsidy and host of eye-catching events spread out over 16 days next summer, Ministers hope it will capture the imagination of the assembled global press pack.

It is, of course the… err… first ever World Alternative Games being held in Llanwrtyd Wells.

While London gears up for the Olympics and the likes of Usain Bolt in the 100m, Mid Wales will play host to the somewhat wackier delights of wife carrying, underwater hockey, world bathtub championships and stone skimming.

And while the UK’s largest city gets a specially-crafted state of the art torch carried proudly from community to community, its smallest town – already famous for its bog snorkelling championships and man-v-horse race – will feature a water-filled saucepan at its opening ceremony.

But in case anyone was worrying that the bog had been left behind, there will also be the world bog snorkelling event, world mountain bike bog snorkelling and, of course, the world bog triathlon championships.

The Welsh Government said it was hoping the “quirky” event would provide a high profile platform for raising Wales’ international reputation and is ploughing £50,000 into making it happen.

Details of what will be on offer were revealed yesterday.

Organisers say the inaugural alternative games, which will run from August 17 to September 2, has an ethos of “the taking part that is more important than the winning” and all competitors will be awarded a “Corinthian Medal” for their efforts.

The official opening ceremony will draw on Llanwrtyd Wells’ history as a spa town. A “sospan fach” (little saucepan) containing the area’s sulphurous water from its original source will be carried by chariot to town centre.

A more formal evening ceremony will include local male voice choirs and “other exciting drum and bass music for the younger generation”.

Powys council and local businesses are also getting behind the event.

First Minister Carwyn Jones said: “One of the key principles of Event Wales, our major events strategy, is that we should encourage a spread of major event opportunities across Wales by supporting a programme of growth events outside Cardiff.

“We are also committed to support innovative, experimental and quirky events and this event will deliver a positive economic impact for Mid Wales and provide a high profile platform for raising Wales’ international reputation.”

Roger Williams, MP for Brecon and Radnorshire, said: “An event that brings more people to the area and provides local people and businesses with greater income has my backing.”

Visit the games’ website at worldalternativegames.co.uk

(EMAILWIRE.COM, November 25, 2011 ) United Kingdom — The UK’s leading bike retailer Halfords is delighted to announce that it is providing the pedal power for the Dallaglio Flintoff Cycle Slam 2012, supported by Virgin Media.

Cycle Slam is a gruelling 2,817km charity cycle ride, from Olympia, Greece to the Olympic Park, London, to be undertaken by two former England captains and sporting legends, Lawrence Dallaglio and Andrew ‘Freddie’ Flintoff, and a team of 400 riders.

Freddie and Lawrence will be riding Boardman Performance Series Road Pro Carbon bikes supplied exclusively by Halfords. The retailer is also sending a team of mechanics, all highly experienced in maintaining road and mountain bikes, to provide technical support and the repairs and replacement parts that will be needed keep the riders on the road.

The 22 day ride starts on St George’s Day (April 23) 2012 and involves five non-stop stages of gruelling terrain across Europe. Riders aim to raise £2,012,000 for the Dallaglio Foundation (supporting Cancer Research UK) and the AF Foundation (a children’s charity raising funds to build, develop and improve child rehabilitation and physiotherapy units throughout the UK) as well as Virgin Unite (the not-for-profit foundation, helping young people in the UK to increase their employability and entrepreneurialism, as well as tackling other important issues for young people).

David Wild, Halfords CEO, said: “Supplying, servicing and repairing bikes is something we do everyday for our customers across the country. We are delighted to bring the know-how, experience and bikes, from our exclusive Boardman Performance Series range, to this special endurance event. Halfords mechanics will be on the road with Lawrence and Freddie to ensure their cycles are in top order throughout the entire ride. We wish all the riders the best of luck in raising funds for such fantastic charitable causes.”

Lawrence Dallaglio said: “We can’t wait to get on with training on our new Boardman Performance Series bikes – they’re quality machines that will definitely help us achieve the speed and power we’ll need over the 22 day event. The ride is going to be unbelievably tough, but we’re confident that with support from our Halfords mechanics and the wider team we’ll stay on schedule and exceed our fundraising target of £2,012,000.”

The Dallaglio Flintoff Cycle Slam 2012 is supported by Virgin Media.

- ENDS -

Notes to Editors:

About Dallaglio Flintoff Cycle Slam 2012
The Dallaglio Flintoff Cycle Slam 2012 Supported by Virgin Media and run by Green Room Sports is an epic 28 day cycle challenge over 2,872 km from the Ancient birthplace of the Olympic Games in Greece to London.

Starting on 23rd April from Olympia Greece and finishing in the Olympic Park London on the 18th May 2012, this is the second Dallaglio Cycle Slam, and the first year Freddie Flintoff has joined the team. In 2010, Lawrence raised over £1,000,000 in association with Sport Relief, cycling from Rome to Edinburgh, taking in the six nation’s stadia.

Both Freddie and Lawrence will cycle the full distance, joined by 12 other core riders. 250 other riders will join them for each of the five stages of this momentous ride, with a total of 400 riders taking part over the whole event. The aim of the public awareness campaign is to increase public support and encourage sponsorship of this year’s Cycle Slam.

Official Cycle Slam Route:

The route is made up of five stages, each of four or five days.
Stage 1: Classic Greece (4 days): 521km / 325mi, 4,740m / 15,642ft climbing
Stage 2: Italian Riviera (5 days): 728km / 455mi, 6,107m / 20,031ft climbing
Stage 3: Strade Bianche (5 days): 562km / 352mi, 6,576m / 21,569ft climbing
Stage 4: Swiss Alps (4 days): 483km / 302mi, 4,829m / 15,839ft climbing
Stage 5: Champagne (4 days): 578km / 362mi, 4,173m / 12,691 climbing

About Halfords:
Halfords is the UK’s largest bike and accessories retailer, with over 460 superstores. Our wide range includes road, MTB, BMX, town and trail and includes leading bike brands Boardman, Voodoo and Carrera. We build every model purchased at a Halfords bike shop free of charge and also offer our customers a free six week safety check.

For further information contact Louise Iles:
Tel: 01527 513206
Mobile: 07921 107362
Fax: 01527 504780
Email: Louise.Iles@halfords.co.uk

Press Release Courtesy of Online PR Media: http://bit.ly/u1cLP3

If you have a welfare issue you think British Forces News might be interested in, a story you’d like us to cover or would just like to comment on our forces-welfare section, please email our Welfare Correspondent Sue Kinnear at forcesnews@bfbs.com

Commuter cyclist

Cyclists have been urged to get insurance by the Association of British Insurers (ABI) the issuance body whose members last year made a combined loss of £1.2billion*. The ABI warns that failure to get adequate cover could leave cyclists facing high bills if they are injured in an accident or are found responsible for causing one.

Speaking to the BBC ABI spokesman Malcolm Tarling said:

“If you are a cyclist and you are involved in an accident the chance of you being injured are quite high,

“Some 230 cyclists a month are killed or seriously injured on the roads so there is a good chance you are going to be off work for weeks, if not months, so some sort of insurance to cover you for loss of income makes sense.”

According to the Department for Transport’s reported casualty statistics last year 111 cyclists lost their lives on Britain’s roads with rural roads again proving the most dangerous places to ride. Cycling casualties have though dropped by 30 per cent on UK roads as judged against the DfT’s own average based on the casualty rates between 1994-98 at the same time cycle usage has gone up by 20 per cent. The total numbers of cyclists killed or seriously injured on British roads was 2771 in 2010 of which 2660 were seriously injured (up 56 on the previous year), 4627 cyclists were slightly injured. When judged against the 94-98 average per billion vehicle miles the number of cyclist killed or seriously injured has dropped by 40 per cent, although there was a 1 per cent rise in 2010 over 2009.  In fact it is more dangerous to be a pedestrian on Britain’s roads than a cyclist.

So, while cycling  on Britain’s roads might not be as safe as we would like it to be it is certainly safer than it was in the recent past.

Mr Tarling went on to tell the BBC that cyclists often underestimate the risks they face  on the roads, in particular if they are in an accident where they are found to be at fault themselves.

“If you are a cyclist and you are involved in an accident and you are at fault for causing it you could be sued for damages,” he says.
This could possibly amount to hundreds or thousands of pounds, he told the BBC.

“If you are cyclist you should always have some form of liability insurance. It is essential.”

While we would say that personal injury cover and third party liability are definitely  things that responsible cyclists should consider it might also be observed that Mr Tarling is possibly over-playing his hand here. According to a DfT study cyclists were found to be a fault in only 7 per cent of the incidents they were involved a fact reflected in the low premiums for such insurance.

If you are injured by another road user and they are at fault your expenses will be covered by their insurance company, if they don’t have any insurance you can claim compensation through the Motor Insurer’s Bureau a body funded by the insurance industry to compensate the victims of uninsured drivers. Although it should also be said that this is likely to a slow process and the compensation on offer may not fully compensate for your loss or suffering.

If you are unsure of the level of cover that you have as a cyclist it is first worth checking whether any of the extras provided in your home and contents policy or with any other insurance policies you hold. Some, though by no means all home contents cover includes bicycles, in some cases the cover is quite generous and will extend to use out of the home too. Likewise some home insurance will include personal injury cover and/or personal liability cover too again though there are big differences in the level of cover provided.

If you don’t have any cover or you think the insurance cover you do have there are a number of insurance companies like Cycleguard offering policies which you can tailor specifically to your needs. Some form of insurance is also part of the package when you take out membership of cycling organisation such as CTC – third party cover; British Cycling third party cover + accident cover depending on membership type; or the London Cycling Campaign – third party and public liability cover. All of those organisations also offer extra insurance  for you, or your bike.

*Source UK Insurance – Key Facts (pub: ABI, Sept 2011)

Spotcycle was already a pretty useful app for BIXI users in Toronto (and other cities), but it didn’t exactly stand out in terms of its features. Like a number of other apps, it allowed bike-share users to locate nearby stations and to monitor the availability of bikes and docking spaces within the system. That’s nothing to shake a stick at, I suppose — the app was free and my version wasn’t particularly “buggy,” so no complaints.

The most recent update to the app, however, ups the ante significantly. Now instead of merely using it to track down BIXI bikes, you can plot out annotated bike rides with your favourite cultural sites, restaurants and assorted retail. Where Spotcycle was formerly only useful to BIXI members, this new feature set opens up the app to anyone who rides a bike. Using the the GPS capabilities of one’s phone — it’s available on all three of the major platforms — the app will create a live map as you ride, which you can categorize and annotate when you’re done.

Unlike the blogTO app, you’ll have to do all of the annotation work yourself (sorry, I had to), but the ability to highlight placemarks along a given route could be quite useful for sharing amongst friends, those who are new to the city or a neighbourhood, or simply for helping you to navigate a confusing route on a return visit. You can also use the app as an odometer and/or speedometer, though I’d suggest the latter might be dangerous while riding a BIXI bike.

Here’s a video demonstration of how it works. Too bad winter is upon us!

Some of the protesters from the Occupy movements in San Francisco and Oakland clashed with police when they briefly blocked the city’s iconic cable cars until officers pushed them out of the street.

Later in the afternoon, some of the participants in what protesters called “Don’t Buy Anything Day” sat down in the middle of Market Street, San Francisco’s main thoroughfare, and blocked traffic while chanting, “Stop shopping and join us!”

“I wanted us both to be here for the children,” said protester Steve Hamilton, a screenwriter who traveled to the city from Winters, Calif., with his son Jacob. “I see how the education deficit directly affects the schools; how the teachers struggle with so many kids in the classrooms and a lack of books. It’s not fair to this generation.”

Down the street from Macy’s massive store on Union Square in San Francisco, shopper Celia Collins of New Orleans said she worked hard to earn her MBA and pay off her student loans. She had every right to enjoy Black Friday, she said, and the protesters would be better off working within the system to find jobs and support the economy.

“I think they’re a bunch of … crybabies,” said Collins, clutching her shopping bags as she watched the protesters march down Stockton Street. “I don’t begrudge them the right to do it, but I just don’t think they’ve really very smart.”

A group of about 20 Occupy protesters in Sacramento marched from a park to a small outdoor mall where many of the storefronts are empty. A police officer on a bicycle trailed the crowd.

A few puzzled shoppers, many toting large shopping bags, stopped to stare at the crowd as they read a manifesto asking people to support local merchants.

Michele Waldinger, 57, a retired attorney who used to work for the U.S. Small Business Administration, said she joined the group to lend her voice to the Occupy effort to restore a social safety net and get corporate influence out of American politics.

“I support the movement, I support getting money out of politics and I support having people shop locally,” she said.

The group paraded into a Macy’s store, entering near the women’s clothing department.

“We are here today to ask you to shop local and sustain our local economy,” the group’s leader, a man who identified himself only as Brother Carter, read into a bullhorn. “And not reward the 1 percent, large corporate stores like Macy’s, whose profits enrich the 1 percent, while they pay next to nothing to their workers, the 99 percent.”

The group stayed inside the store for several minutes chanting slogans such as, “They call it profit; we call it robbery.” Several shoppers crowded around taking photos with their cellphones.

“I just was took back by surprise that they came into Macy’s,” said Beronica Jones, 39, of Reno, who was carrying a Gap bag. “I guess that it’s positive for people to hear it when they’re shopping for Christmas, when we’re consuming.”

After most of the crowd had cleared out of the store, two young women wearing Macy’s badges approached one of the protesters to ask what their rally was all about. One explained that it was to call attention to workers who perform all the labor but do not share in profits.

The employees nodded their heads in agreement.

A Macy’s manager threatened to arrest a reporter for The Associated Press before she could ask for the names of the employees or the manager.

Betsy Nelson, a spokeswoman for Macy’s, declined to comment on the group’s assertion that the chain is among the “1 percent.” Nelson said Macy’s usually asks the media to check in before reporting at its stores but apologized for the manager who threatened to have the reporter arrested.

“We are a place where people shop. We are not necessarily a place to protest,” she said.

Along with identifying new protest targets, people with the Occupy movement energized more established awareness campaigns.

In Emeryville, a small city on San Francisco Bay that has been transformed from a manufacturing area to a shopping destination, more than 60 people attended a Native American community’s 10th annual Black Friday protest of the Bay Street Mall.

Corrina Gould, a lead organizer for Indian People Organizing for Change, said the goal is to educate shoppers that the mall was built in 2002 on a sacred Ohlone burial site.

About one-third of the people at Friday’s protest came from neighboring Oakland’s Occupy movement, and Gould said having the new voices was invigorating.

Jesse Smith, an Occupy Oakland protester, passed out fliers encouraging mall shoppers to instead support local businesses in downtown Oakland to help “keep them in the black.”

___

Williams reported from Sacramento. Associated Press Writer Terry Collins contributed reporting from Emeryville.