Wall Street firms are the target of a nonviolent demonstration in which organizers say they want 20,000 people to participate with tents, kitchens and “peaceful barricades” in lower Manhattan.
Dubbed “#OccupyWallStreet,” the goal of the protest is to get President Barack Obama to establish a commission to end “the influence money has over our representatives in Washington,” according to the website of Adbusters, a group promoting the demonstration. Organizers want participants to “occupy” the area for “a few months,” according to the website.
“People have a right to protest, and if they want to protest, we’ll be happy to make sure they have locations to do it,” New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg said Sept. 15 at a press conference. “As long as they do it where other people’s rights are respected, this is the place where people can speak their minds, and that’s what makes New York, New York.”
As the demonstration began this afternoon, as many as 1,000 people congregated in the Chase Manhattan Plaza area and, after speakers with a bullhorn rallied the crowd, broke into groups to discuss the event’s goals. Some participants circulated trays of sliced white and wheat bread while others passed out jars of creamy Skippy peanut butter, and distributed apples, bananas and oranges from shopping carts.
Red Flags, Masks
Protesters waved red flags and toted cardboard signs with statements such as “represent the 99%.” Others donned white, mustachioed masks of the anti-authoritarian protagonist from the graphic novel and film “V for Vendetta.” A few people played instruments, including guitars, ukuleles and maracas. Chants and applause periodically erupted around the plaza.
Police encircled the plaza and partitioned Wall Street’s pedestrian walkway.
Protesters Begin Effort to ‘Occupy Wall Street’
ABC News’ Candace Smith reports:
Protesters are gathering on Wall Street today in a movement they call “Occupy Wall Street.”
As of noon, hundreds of protesters gathered at Bowling Green Park in Manhattan, home of the iconic charging bull in New York’s Financial District as they prepare to “take the bull by the horns,” as said on a flyer advertising the event.
“The one thing we all have in common is that We Are The 99% that will no longer tolerate the greed and corruption of the 1%,” said a statement on the website Occupy Wall Street.
发表于 2011-9-17 21:23
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发表于 2011-9-17 21:29
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