Protests targeting the financial sector escalated on Saturday as more than 90 people were arrested as they marched through Manhattan.
The so-called “Occupy Wall Street” movement has entered its second week and has drawn hundreds of activists to protest in front of the New York Stock Exchange and other commercial centres of the city.
On Saturday, skirmishes with the police erupted as a group of several hundred attempted to march to the UN building without a permit. Protest organisers said at least 96 people were arrested, with at least five being sprayed with mace by police.
The demonstrations began September 17 when several hundred people gathered in Zuccotti Park, near Wall Street. Organised through social media, the protests continued through the week, with a smaller number of people demonstrating each morning as traders and financial workers made their way to work.
Police presence has remained heavy throughout the week, and police said most of Saturday’s arrests were for disorderly conduct and blocking traffic. There was one arrest for assault on a police officer.
Scenes of the protests posted on YouTube showed hundreds of people swarming the streets near Union Square as police worked to move protesters back onto the sidewalk. Some videos captured police shoving protesters to the ground, fencing them off and using pepper spray on a group of women.
Activists representing a broad array of causes have joined the demonstrations. In recent days signs protesting against capital punishment, the ongoing wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and the tax code have been seen on the marches.
“End Corporate Personhood,” read one placard, referring to Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney’s recent assertion that “corporations are people”.
Protesters said their goal was not simply to halt trading or disrupt business in the financial sector.
“It’s more complicated than that,” said Patrick Bruner, a spokesman for the protesters. “The idea is that we’re starting a real conversation, a conversation that has not existed. There’s a real misuse of wealth and power and we’re talking about it.”
But even supporters of the demonstrations said the movement lacks a coherent voice.
“The protests should have a clearer message,” said one commenter from Australia on the Occupy Wall Street website. “A lot of people are being confused as to what the protests are all about.”
The demonstrations have so far failed to disrupt work on Wall Street, but protesters said they would continue into next week. “We’re not going anywhere,” said Mr Bruner.
#GetAJob
Hey assholes, if you really want 'to start a conversation' why don't you get some balls and have your protests at 7AM on a Monday instead of 3PM on a Saturday. Who gives a shit if there are a few hundred assholes with camera phones on Wall Street on the weekend. That's like Rosa Parks locking down the front seat on an empty bus. You know why? Because the tens of thousands of people that actually have a place to be would trample you on their way to jobs, where they earn money to support their families. I don't know what the fuck occupying Wall Street has to do with capital punishment or the war in Iraq.
You want to see how real protesters protest? Look at some Cairo footage where you have to avoid getting your head lapped off by some hooded savage on camel back, or smashed in the face with a brick. Those are protesters. What you see in New York are a bunch of college kids that think they have the whole world figured out, who took the bus in from North Jersey with their friends, with the sole purpose of trying to get some poor New York City cop to snap on them in a moment of weekness while their douchebag friend records it going, 'you're on camera man, this is against the constition, we have freedom of speech,' so that he can be viral for 6 hours and cost the cop his pension. That's all this is about, but for some reason the media has to pretend to take this shit seriously instead of calling a spade a spade. Protesting against 'the man' is just what's in this season I guess. All the hipsters are doing it. I hope next year the trend is more towards fucking getting jobs and not costing tax payers millions more in police expenses because your marching about some shit you can't even explain.
I'm not even sure how this relates, but it comes to mind. Courtest of Opie and Anthony, M-F 6-10AM on Sirius 197 XM 105.
@opieradio
@anthonycumia
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