Protests in Chicago aimed at financial industry

The Mortgage Bankers Association recently met in Chicago, and drew a few hundred protesters who felt the mortgage finance lobbying group was associated with Wall Street greed. Protesters demanded the group work towards decreasing foreclosures and increasing jobs.

The protests were part of the Take Back Chicago event where a coalition of community and labor organizations planned to send 7,500 disgruntled workers to different locations across the city. One main stop for the protesters was outside the Hyatt Regency, where 2,000 bankers and mortgage lenders gathered for the annual MBA meeting.

"The government bailed the banks out on our backs, but they haven't bailed us out," said Thurlester Ibrahim, who was representing the Anti-Eviction Campaign, a community group in Chicago. "We're losing our homes."

The event aims to join forces with the Occupy Wall Street demonstrations, which continue to take place in cities across the country, the news source reported.

A statement from the MBA said the meeting in Chicago focused on sustainable homeownership and increased access to affordable mortgage credit for qualified homeowners.

"We all recognize that our industry faces a trust deficit with policymakers and the public, and that people in our industry contributed to the events that led to the financial crisis," the association said in a statement. 

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