Photo (Courtesy) http://thewall.com.au/topics/53522-protesters-blocked-from-wall-st18 Sep, 2011, 01.25PM IST, New York Times
Sections of Wall Street near the New York Stock Exchange blocked from protesters
NEW YORK: For months the protesters had planned to descend on Wall Street on a Saturday and occupy parts of it as an expression of anger over a financial system that they said favors the rich and powerful at the expense of ordinary citizens.
As it turned out, the demonstrators found much of their target off limits on Saturday as the city shut down sections of Wall Street near the New York Stock Exchange and Federal Hall well before their arrival.
By 10 a.m., metal barricades manned by uniformed police officers ringed the blocks of Wall Street between Broadway and William Street to the east. (In a statement, Paul J. Browne, the Police Department's chief spokesman said, "A protest area was established on Broad Street at Exchange Street, next to the stock exchange, but protesters elected not to use it.")
Organizers, promoters and supporters called the day, which had been widely touted on Twitter and other social media sites, simply September 17. Some referred to it as the United States Day of Rage, an apparent reference to a series of disruptive protests against the Vietnam War held in Chicago in 1969.
The idea, according to some organizers, was to camp out for weeks or even months to replicate the kind, if not the scale, of protests that erupted this year in places as varied as Egypt, Spain and Israel.
Bill Steyert, 68, who lives in Queens, stood near the barricades at Wall Street and Broadway and shouted, "Shut down Wall Street, 12 noon, you're all invited," as tourists gazed quizzically at him.
Talking to a reporter, Steyert elaborated: "You need a scorecard to keep track of all the things that corporations have done that are bad for this country."
Nearby, Micah Chamberlain, a 23-year-old line cook from Columbus, Ohio, held up a sign reading "End the Oligarchy" and said he had hitchhiked to New York.
"There are millions of people in this county without jobs," he said. "And 1 percent of the people have 99 percent of the money."
Throughout the afternoon hundreds of demonstrators gathered in parks and plazas in Lower Manhattan. They held teach-ins, engaged in discussion and debate and in some instances embarked on marches through the streets and sidewalks, brandishing signs with messages like "Democracy Not Corporatization" or "Revoke Corporate Personhood."
Organizers said the rally was meant to be diverse, and not all of the participants were on the left. Followers of the right-wing figure Lyndon LaRouche formed a choir near Bowling Green and sang "The Star Spangled Banner" and "The Battle Hymn of the Republic." Nearby, anarchists holding a red and black flag carried knapsacks, sleeping bags and tents.
At one point in the early afternoon, dozens of protesters marched around the famous bronze bull on lower Broadway. Among them was Dave Woessner, 31, a student at Harvard Divinity School.
"When you idealize financial markets as salvific you embrace the idea that profit is all that matters," he said.
Source
Sections of Wall Street near the New York Stock Exchange blocked from protesters
NEW YORK: For months the protesters had planned to descend on Wall Street on a Saturday and occupy parts of it as an expression of anger over a financial system that they said favors the rich and powerful at the expense of ordinary citizens.
As it turned out, the demonstrators found much of their target off limits on Saturday as the city shut down sections of Wall Street near the New York Stock Exchange and Federal Hall well before their arrival.
By 10 a.m., metal barricades manned by uniformed police officers ringed the blocks of Wall Street between Broadway and William Street to the east. (In a statement, Paul J. Browne, the Police Department's chief spokesman said, "A protest area was established on Broad Street at Exchange Street, next to the stock exchange, but protesters elected not to use it.")
Organizers, promoters and supporters called the day, which had been widely touted on Twitter and other social media sites, simply September 17. Some referred to it as the United States Day of Rage, an apparent reference to a series of disruptive protests against the Vietnam War held in Chicago in 1969.
The idea, according to some organizers, was to camp out for weeks or even months to replicate the kind, if not the scale, of protests that erupted this year in places as varied as Egypt, Spain and Israel.
Bill Steyert, 68, who lives in Queens, stood near the barricades at Wall Street and Broadway and shouted, "Shut down Wall Street, 12 noon, you're all invited," as tourists gazed quizzically at him.
Talking to a reporter, Steyert elaborated: "You need a scorecard to keep track of all the things that corporations have done that are bad for this country."
Nearby, Micah Chamberlain, a 23-year-old line cook from Columbus, Ohio, held up a sign reading "End the Oligarchy" and said he had hitchhiked to New York.
"There are millions of people in this county without jobs," he said. "And 1 percent of the people have 99 percent of the money."
Throughout the afternoon hundreds of demonstrators gathered in parks and plazas in Lower Manhattan. They held teach-ins, engaged in discussion and debate and in some instances embarked on marches through the streets and sidewalks, brandishing signs with messages like "Democracy Not Corporatization" or "Revoke Corporate Personhood."
Organizers said the rally was meant to be diverse, and not all of the participants were on the left. Followers of the right-wing figure Lyndon LaRouche formed a choir near Bowling Green and sang "The Star Spangled Banner" and "The Battle Hymn of the Republic." Nearby, anarchists holding a red and black flag carried knapsacks, sleeping bags and tents.
At one point in the early afternoon, dozens of protesters marched around the famous bronze bull on lower Broadway. Among them was Dave Woessner, 31, a student at Harvard Divinity School.
"When you idealize financial markets as salvific you embrace the idea that profit is all that matters," he said.
Source
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