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OWS protests ignite around the world, 22 arrested in NY

China.org.cn, October 16, 2011

• A protestor holds a slogan board in front of the headquarters of European Central Bank (ECB) in Frankfurt, Germany, Oct. 15, 2011. More than one thousand demonstrators held the "Occupy Frankfurt" rally here on Saturday. [Xinhua/Ma Ning]

  "Occupy Wall Street (OWS)" protests , which initially targeted corporate greed, and their offshoots in a solidarity for global action on Saturday spread to cities in more than 80 countries around the world.

  In New York City, more than 1,000 protesters set off Saturday noon from Zuccotti Park, a privately owned property just two blocks away from Wall Street in lower Manhattan, and marched on JP Morgan Chase bank buildings in the financial district, banging drums and chanting, "We are sold out, banks are bailed out," and " End the war, tax the rich."

  The protesters marched uptown to converge at Time Square on the intersection of Broadway and Seventh Avenue, passing venues including Liberty Square, Washington Square Park and numbers of the protesters kept growing all the way along, according to a text posted on the movement's website.

  A woman protester from New York City who identified herself as Mary, 54, said she had worked for 30 years but has become jobless since 2000. Wielding a placard saying "No Job No Health Care No Future No American Dream," the woman said she was by no way a lazy hippie and she joined the demonstration because she could not afford her children's college education.

  "I am glad OWS protests are going global," said Mary, adding she was confident that the protests would be sure to make changes.

  Saturday's demonstration in New York City, carried out under tight police surveillance, went on peacefully for the most part, except at La Guardia Place where police arrested 22 protesters who attempted to close their accounts with the Citi Bank there, said a document posted on the movement's website: http://occupywallst.org.

  The Occupy Wall Street protests emerged on Sept. 17, with only a few dozen demonstrators -- mostly young people -- trying to erect tents before the New York Stock Exchange. With access denied by the police, they turned to Zuccotti Park, just two blocks away from Wall Street and owned by Brookfield Office Properties, a multinational real estate corporation, as their camping ground.

  The number of participants has since grown to hundreds, with such facilities as food stand, mini-library and makeshift hospital set up on site. They even started to publish their own newspaper, ironically titled "The Occupied Wall Street Journal."

  The protesters speak against corporate greed, social inequality, global climate change and other problems, but have so far failed to render any clear political demand or reform scheme. Nevertheless, they have found vehement support from people of various walks of life, as an increasing number of Americans are frustrated by the country's slow recovery from the three-year recession and persisting high unemployment rate of 9.1 percent.

  The Occupy Wall Street protesters on Friday avoided a showdown with the police, as the government backed off at the last minute from an earlier plan to evict them from their campsite at Zuccotti Park in lower Manhattan.

  On Saturday, peaceful demonstrators also took to streets in other cities worldwide, including Frankfurt, Athens, Oslo, Amsterdam, Kuala Lumpur, and Ottawa, Vancouver, Calgary, Toronto, Montreal, Quebec in Canada, protesting against widening wealth disparity, corporate greed and its influence in politics.

  In Rome, capital of Italy, the protests became violent as groups of protesters clashed with police during the global "Occupy Wall Street Day" demonstrations.

  Over 70 people were injured in the clashes and 45 of them were hospitalized, including police officers and local residents. One of the injured lost two of his fingers in a small explosion.

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