CHARLOTTE, N.C. Festivaliberacion — an all-day gathering of classes, protester preparation and music in NoDa — moved inside Saturday afternoon in the wake of an afternoon thunderstorm.

Ayende Alcala, 31, a longtime member of Occupy Charlotte, said the festival would resume later Saturday, weather permitting.

The event is a precursor to Sunday’s March Against Wall Street South, which organizers say could draw thousands of people through uptown.

Saturday’s festival was meant to educate activists about left-wing issues, with informal classes such as “How Wall Street is Burning Democracy.”

One part of the event is an outreach to Hispanics.

“We have a whole team of Spanish interpreters,” said Juan Miranda, an event organizer who grew up in Charlotte and who now lives in Greensboro. “We are trying to do outreach for Latinos.”

At the start of the event at 1 p.m., there was an eclectic mix of activists, include mainstream groups like Amnesty International along with some self-described anarchists and former members of Occupy movements nationwide.

Eric Verlo protested at the 2008 Democratic National Convention in Denver and was a member of the Occupy Colorado Springs movement.

He didn’t protest at last week’s RNC in Tampa.

“The Democratic Party is in charge, and they are running the party,” he said. “The problem is that the Democrats make the Republican Party out to be the bogeyman, as if the Democrats are any better.”

Saturday’s festival is taking place at 15th and North Davidson streets, in the shadow of uptown skyscrapers.

There are musical acts scheduled for Saturday evening, including political punk and hip-hop music.

The Coalition to March on Wall Street South encompasses about 80 local and national protest groups. Members of the coalition consider Charlotte, home of Bank of America and many Wells Fargo offices, to be the country’s southern version of Wall Street.

Alcala said protesters would move the hundreds of signs and bottles of water to the uptown march early Sunday morning.