DETROIT, MI -- Hundreds of demonstrators gathered outside Cobo Center on Friday afternoon to protest water being cut off from city residents with overdue bills.

The gathering is fueled by attendees of the annual conference of the group Netroots Nation, a national organization focused on progressive activism through the Internet.

Actor Mark Ruffalo, known for playing The Hulk in the Marvel Comics movie in The Avengers, were among the protestors.

The Detroit Water and Sewerage Department has cut off water to thousands of residents in recent months as it takes a more aggressive approach to collecting debt.

Officials have said most of the households cut off had their water restored within 48 hours after making payments or arranging payment plans.

The department established an aid program for low-income residents earlier this month. But Detorit's federal bankruptcy judge this week ordered water officials to present more options for customers who can't pay by Monday.

A message seeking reaction to the protest was left for a water department spokesman Friday.

(Update: Detroit water department to present new options for struggling customers amid backlash over cutoffs)

The crowd planned to march to Hart Plaza demanding a halt to the cutoffs, calling access to water a human right.

Update-1:15 p.m.: The crowd began marching shortly after 1 p.m. and grew to what appeared to be over 1,000 people. The subject of the demonstration expanded beyond the water issue, with members of the crowd chanting "We got sold out, banks got bailed out," expressing opposition to proposed pension cuts and privatization of public services and calling for a "Robin Hood tax."

"I have a knack for getting cameras pointed at me, so all I want to do is take a camera and point it back at you," Ruffalo said. "This is your story. This is your life, your families. You built this nation. This is not a nation for the 1 percent. It's a nation for all of us."

Update-1:55 p.m.: The group National Nurses United, one of the organizers of the protest called for the situation to be declared a public health crisis.

State Rep. Phil Cavanagh and U.S. Rep. John Conyers were in the crowd.

Update: 2:10 p.m: "We will not allow them to keep pushing the working class towards the bottom," said Rev. Charles Williams II, head of the Michigan chapter of the National Action Network. "We will stand up and fight back. We will march from Detroit to Lansing until residents have water."

MLive reporter Ryan Zuke and photographer Elaine Cromie contributed to this report.