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WINSTON-SALEM (MCT) — Winston-Salem got occupied Sunday.

Taking a cue from the anti-Wall Street protest in New York that has triggered similar ones in cities across North Carolina, the nation and the world, about 200 people filled the sidewalks in front of the Bank of America office on Stratford Road to rail against what they say is an ever-widening economic disparity in the United States.

Among the protesters here was Michael Tinga, a 49-year-old man who worked in the furniture industry in Thomasville for most of his professional life. For the past eight years, Tinga ran the shipping and receiving department at Con-Tab Inc., which builds such items as beds and study desks, he said.

About four months ago, Tinga was laid off.

"I came here just for this" protest, Tinga said. "It's been corporate America taking their jobs overseas. They're killing the common man, and the politicians aren't doing anything about it. We're just trying to get the politicians to listen to us. There's a helluva lot more of us than them."

Over the weekend, about 400 people in Raleigh, 600 in Greensboro and more than 80 in Wilmington held similar protests.

Occupy Winston-Salem, a group that formed recently by using Facebook, organized the protest here. Ethan Smith, a 29-year-old landscaper and one of the coordinators, said that he was there to have more influence in the community he lives in.

"Nobody is looking for a handout. We just want a society where everybody has a chance to get a job. We don't want anything for free," he said.

Occupy Winston-Salem does not align itself with any political party, but the protest it organized had some central themes: politics is influenced too heavily by corporations; the highest moneymakers have too much control and do not share the tax burden; and there are many more Davids in the world than there are Goliaths.

But the lightning rod for the protest was Bank of America's recent decision to raise debit-card fees.

Bank of America, based in Charlotte, said last month that it would charge its customers $5 a month if they use their debit cards for purchases. Customers who use their cards only at ATMs will not have to pay the fee.

Chase and Wells Fargo are also testing $3 monthly debit-card fees in select markets, although not in North Carolina.

SunTrust, a regional bank based in Atlanta, began charging a $5 debit-card fee in June for customers with basic checking accounts. Regions Financial, based in Birmingham, Ala., started charging a $4 fee on Oct. 1 for accounts that don't meet higher balance requirements.

Some have criticized the banks for charging to use debit cards after those same banks received hundreds of billions of dollars in taxpayer-funded bailouts. Bank of America, Chase, Wells Fargo, SunTrust and Regions were among the recipients of rescue funds.

Asked whether Bank of America would like to respond to the criticism expressed at the protest in Winston-Salem, regional spokeswoman Nicole Nastacie said in an email, "We do not have a comment at this time."

Also among the protesters dressed in a suit and tie was George Rigby, an 86-year-old Winston-Salem man who retired from Integon Corp. (now GMAC) after working there for 31 years.

"I was dressed to go to church, but I thought this was more important," Rigby said. "This is my bank, but I feel like we're being taken advantage of."

While Rigby spoke, protesters of all ages lined the corner of Stratford Road and Knollwood Street. Some of their signs read: "Bank of America, You're Fired," and "The Rich Get Richer," and "Don't Let Greed Succeed." At times, they chanted: "They got bailed out! We got sold out!"

Meanwhile, in the bank's parking lot, Bank of America account holders used the ATM.

One of them was Tammy Shu, a 23-year-old law student at Wake Forest University and a former business analyst at Wells Fargo in Charlotte. She said she acknowledges that if the protesters feel something is not right with the economic and political system, there is some merit in expressing that frustration. Ultimately, however, there has to be something more, she said.

"They're against big corporations and corporate greed, but that's the life they've had. They grew up with it. They've benefitted from it, and they haven't proffered any alternatives," Shu said.

Shu's comment echoes one of the common criticisms of the anti-Wall Street protests. It's a criticism that Ashley Johnson, a 40-year-old science teacher in Stokes County, has heard before. While standing among the protesters, she said that the criticism misses the point.

"I can stand here and talk to you about biology all day," she said. "But I'm not an economist. I don't have the solution. I can tell you that something is wrong. One of the problems is that we can't talk to our politicians because we're not lobbyists."