- Title: USA/CANADA: Demonstrators take to the streets across North America
- Date: 16th October 2011
- Summary: NEW YORK, NEW YORK, UNITED STATES (OCTOBER 15, 2011) (REUTERS) VARIOUS POLICE ARRESTING PROTESTERS VARIOUS STANDOFF BETWEEN POLICE AND PROTESTERS VARIOUS POLICE PUTTING ARRESTED PROTESTERS IN VAN POLICE ON MOTORCYCLES RIDING OFF
- Embargoed: 31st October 2011 12:00
- Keywords:
- Location: Usa, Canada
- City:
- Country: Canada
- Topics: Economy,Politics
- Reuters ID: LVA60934KN6KZ4BG66AJ3HF3ANZL
- Story Text: Thousands of anti-Wall Street protesters rallied in New York City's Times Square on Saturday (October 15), buoyed by a global day of demonstrations in support of their month long campaign against corporate greed.
Inspired by the Occupy Wall Street movement, protests on Saturday rippled through the United States and Canada. Protesters fed up with economic inequality took to the streets in cities from Atlanta, Raleigh and Phoenix to Los Angeles, Pittsburgh and Toronto.
New York police said 24 people were arrested at a Citibank branch in Manhattan's Greenwich Village neighborhood, mostly for trespassing. Protesters said those arrested were trying to close their accounts. A Reuters reporter saw another five people arrested as the protest neared Times Square. Citibank was not immediately available for comment.
After weeks of intense media coverage, the size of the U.S. protests have been smaller than G20 meetings or political conventions have yielded in recent years. Such events often draw tens of thousands of demonstrators.
In New York, where the movement began when protesters set up camp in a Lower Manhattan park on Sept. 17, organizers said the protest grew to at least 5,000 people as they marched to Times Square from their makeshift outdoor headquarters.
The protesters chanted, "We got sold out, banks got bailed out" and "All day, all week, occupy Wall Street." They arrived in Times Square at a time when the area is already crowded with tourists and Broadway theatergoers.
Another five thousand people marched through the streets of Los Angeles and gathered peacefully outside City Hall.
In Toronto, a couple of thousand people gathered peacefully and started to set up a camp in St. James Park, a few blocks from the city's financial district. While in Pittsburgh in protesters marched through the streets, chanting and waving placards.
The Occupy Wall Street movement has been gathering steam over the past month, culminating with Saturday's action.
The protesters say they are upset that the billions of dollars in bank bailouts doled out during the recession allowed banks to resume earning huge profits while average Americans have had no relief from high unemployment and job insecurity.
They also believe the richest 1 percent of Americans do not pay their fair share in taxes. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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