Gallery: Protesters Stand Against JP Morgan Chase

Protesters and local advocates lined the entrance of the JP Morgan Chase corporate complex in Tampa on Tuesday as shareholders filed in for the annual meeting with the company's executives just days after they announced a $2 billion loss last year.

Occupy Tampa and the Florida Consumer Action Network were at the forefront of putting together the effort, which attracted about 25 protesters and a slew of media, both national and local, to the offices at 10420 Highland Manor Dr., near Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard and Interstate 75.

The message varied by individual, but the one unmistakably common thread was that the protesters oppose big corporations, big banks and CEOs like Chase's Jamie Dimon.

"There are a lot of folks in my neighborhood that are hurting because banks decided to gamble with their money," Florida Consumer Action Network coordinator Tim Heberlein said. "They just lost $2 billion and say it's a drop in the bucket, but have they helped anyone with interest reduction on their loans? The gambling that these big banks are doing is completely unregulated."

The disgruntled sign holders came from all over Florida, with some showing up from areas as far away as Miami. Members of Occupy Orlando got in on the action, none more so than Maryland Lyday, whose sign linked Dimon with bribery, fraud and extortion as she passionately spoke to multiple media outlets. She was pleased with the turnout, but even more pleased by the police and security presence surrounding the meeting.

"These men that run these Wells Fargo, Chase and other banks need to be prosecuted and put in jail for what they've done to the housing market and the American people," Lyday said. "What makes this so good is the impression we're making on them. I've seen three or four different types of security between the complex security and the police. That means to me that they're afraid, so they know we're here."

CBS national, CNN, NBC and just about every major radio show, newspaper and local news network in Tampa was in attendance, with media personnel practically outnumbering the protesters. The attention was something that FCAN's Heberlein was happy to see.

"We want to get the word out that we need to take the money out of politics and we need to watch these banks," Heberlein said. "These banks help pay for political campaigns and end up not paying corporate taxes. There is a ton of corruption in all of it. This meeting going down in our backyard is unsettling and we want these people to know that it isn't going unnoticed."

Protesters sang chants, held signs and played a game they referred as "Vegas Banker," where after rolling a set of inflatable dice, the player wins the chance to throw an egg at a picture of Dimon.

Amongst the protesters, the reasons for getting involved varied greatly. For Michael Brant, a 58-year old unemployed engineer from Plant City, the day was a chance to come out and rail against the company that messed with much of his retirement investments.

"I had saved for thirty years," Brant said. "Then these guys freeze the money in money market accounts. I started protesting on my own back then when the economic crisis started because I was running out of money two years away from when I planned on retiring. I used to a do a lot of stock trading and believed in the market, but I stopped because of all the corruption in these banks."