LAS CRUCES — More than a dozen Occupy Las Cruces protesters closed their campsite today with a pledge that their movement against the nation's richest 1 percent would move from tents clustered near City Hall and into the streets of the region.

"We have really incredibly talented individuals here who need to be out in the community more, rather than just in the park," said Michael "Sasha" Miller, an original "occupier" of Albert Johnson Park outside of Branigan Library.

The Occupy Wall Street movement — the central protest from which the Occupy Las Cruces protest sprang — started Sept. 17 of last year in New York's Zuccotti Park, and is critical of the corporate influence that protesters allege the richest 1 percent of society has on government.

Thousands of people throughout the country started similar campsites in their local communities to show support. The Occupy Las Cruces campsite began in late October and today represented 107 days of "occupying" the city.

"We accomplished our mission. This was our first big step," said Tom St. John, 75, who has been at the movement's campsite nearly every day since late October. "We are really thrilled that we have put into motion locally the energy that is going nationwide."

The local camp will now form alliances with existing activist groups to expand the "Occupy Wall Street" movement in a way that an anchor campsite could not facilitate, said Miller.

"Some people feel that the camp itself has tethered some real passion and real energy that wants to explode into the community and do something vitally important," he said.

Marisol Ruiz walked into the disbanding camp this morning with a message for the protesters: "I am sorry you are leaving the park, but I am happy you are moving on and continuing," she told the group, then urged them to engage the Spanish-speaking community for added support.

Christopher Hadsell, 50, also came to show support for the group, which he credited with informing him of what he said was a societal illness that he would not have learned of otherwise.

"I wanted to come and show some solidarity with Occupy," said Hadsell.

Grace Pawll credited the group with voicing opinions publicly that many others are hesitant to express.

"I think they were brave to come forth," she said. "Some of us think the same thoughts, but don't really get out and show what we are thinking. I have to give them credit for that."

Jason Burke, 35, also has been an Occupier since the movement in Las Cruces began. He said his involvement has affected him profoundly.

"It has been a life-changing experience for all of us," he said.

Hearing from so many people has also changed his perspective on people from different backgrounds.

"Things are not so black and white anymore. It's not so liberal vs. conservative. It's not black or Chrisitan or whatever. Now it's just people who have concerns. They are human beings and they have worries and have suffering and need things to change," he said.

Miller said he understood that closing the camp was a significant — and emotional — development.

"Its physical presence means something to people because it is a symbol of the resistance to what is wrong with our country," he said. "A woman I have never seen broke down and cried a little because the camp was leaving," he said, adding that he believes 99 percent of Americans "feel there are serious things wrong with our country. They may disagree with what those things are, but they know something is wrong. These camps have become a symbol that something needs to change."

Miller added that he believed more attention needed to be placed on the drug war on Mexico.

"I really want to focus on Mexico and our portion of responsibility for it that we have to own as consumers of illicit drugs, as having a drug policy, and a drug war, that is not working — that has not ever worked," he said.

Occupy Wall Street protests were started by the management of Adbusters, an anti-consumerist magazine based in Canada. The most popular theme of the protest has been to rally people against an economic system that protesters say enables the richest 1 percent of the U.S. population to take political and economic advantage of the remaining 99 percent.

Reyes Mata III can be reached at (575) 541-5405.