“Occupy wall Street” that began as a demonstration in New York on September 17, went global this weekend with demonstrations spreading across the globe. Rallies began on Saturday in more than one thousand worldwide, including cities in Europe, Africa and Asia, as well as in North American cities.
The larger demonstrations were held in New York, London, Washington, Toronto, Denver, Chicago, Hong Kong, Sydney and Rome.
The demonstration in Rome turned violent and over 100 people were hurt and more than 80 people were arrested.
Italian protestors embarked into a full-scale battle with police throwing rocks and other objects at them. Police charged against the angry mobs in vans and threw tear gas in an effort to calm them down.
In New York, the Occupy Wall street movement began in Zuccotti Park right near Wall Street, and slowly moved to Times Square where at least 6,000 people gathered. This later led to the arrest of around 70 people.
The Occupy London Stock Exchange protest drew about 4,000 people and in Berlin, 6,000 took to the streets.
The activists are protesting against social and economic inequality and against corporate greed and are calling for change.
The original Occupy Wall street protesters in New York say they represent “the 99 percent,” of the population as opposed to the 1 percent of Americans control 40 percent of U.S. wealth.
The group claims to draw inspiration from the Arab Spring movement (particularly the Tahrir Square protests in Cairo, which initiated the 2011 Egyptian Revolution which toppled President Mubarak from power. They were also were inspired by the Spanish “Indignants”, who began protesting in May against high unemployment in Spain.
