Occupy Whidbey Island has announced it will stage a protest in front of the Wells Fargo Bank branch in Clinton on Friday, Feb. 10.

“Among other grievances, we will be protesting WFB’s involvement in MERS, the Mortgage Electronic Registration System,” said Jim Hyde, a member of Occupy Whidbey Island.

Hyde said a lawsuit filed by New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman against Wells Fargo, Bank of America and JP Morgan Chase claims the banks used a private database to register mortgages, which, according to the lawsuit, was an “end-run around the property recording system” and “led to fraudulent foreclosures, undermined the state’s process for reviewing foreclosure cases and made it difficult for homeowners to access mortgage-related documents.”

The South Whidbey protest will be held from 3:30 to 5:30 p.m., and Hyde said public participation is welcome.