It started with 12 students in Wall Street... now demonstrations spread across America as Boston, Chicago, L.A., Denver and Seattle erupt
- Protest enters third week with activists in Los Angeles saying they will remain 'indefinitely'
- 700 protesters arrested over the weekend as they camp out in New York's financial district
- Demonstrators angry at corporate greed along with U.S. banking and political systems
Last updated at 12:28 PM on 3rd October 2011
Major cities across the U.S. are today bracing themselves for more protests against corporate America as the Occupy Wall Street campaign enters its third week and gathers pace.
The demonstrations, which began in New York City two weeks ago, have already spread to Los Angeles, Boston, Chicago, Denver and Seattle. The arrests of 700 people on Brooklyn Bridge over the weekend seem to have only strengthened the resolve of protesters.
Sparked by the Occupy Wall Street movement has seen thousands of protesters camped out in New York's Financial District for the past fortnight and mass gatherings started nationwide, with the unified purpose of voicing anger at the U.S. banking and political systems.
Occupy LA: Los Angeles protesters marched from Pershing Square to City Hall to voice their discontent at the financial system.
Massachusetts uprising: Demonstrators, pictured on Sunday, are camping outside the Federal Reserve building, in Boston. The group is part of a nationwide grassroots movement in support of the ongoing Wall Street protests in New York
The anti-corporate protest in New York City entered its third week today, as the city's residents began to increasingly feel the effect of a mass gathering that began as little more than a dozen students.
Yesterday members of the NYPD moved in and ordered some of those who had camped out to dismantle what police said were 'dwellings'.
'A dozen officers came walking toward us with NYPD video cameras pointed at us,' said John Dennehy, who went straight back to Zuccotti Park after spending hours in police custody.
He flashed a police desk appearance ticket charging him with disorderly conduct and prohibited use of a roadway.
On Saturday, the 29-year-old United Nations employee joined thousands of protesters who tried to cross the bridge after marching through Manhattan's Financial District.
Dennehy and three others had built what they called their 'box castle' using cardboard mailing boxes to delineate their space on the plaza.
Mass movement: 'Occupy' protests have started in Seattle, left, and Denver, right, a clear sign that the sentiment chimes with residents across America.
Obama's home town: Demonstrators hold signs across from the Federal Reserve bank of Chicago while trying to keep dry in a downpour of rain on Friday.
But police told them to remove the structure, they said. Plastic tarps they were using to stay dry in a pouring rain also were not acceptable, they said.
Under clear skies Sunday afternoon, protesters could help themselves to food that unnamed supporters donated to keep the encampment running.
'This is unsettling. I think the NYPD has a PR problem'
Alec Baldwin
Some ate pizza they said was ordered for them by a man in Egypt who phoned a local shop to have the pies delivered.
The campers also have been fueled by encouraging words from well-known figures, the latest actor Alec Baldwin, who posted videos on his Twitter page that had already been widely circulated.
One appeared to show police using pepper spray on a group of women, another a young man being tackled to the ground by an officer.
'This is unsettling,' Baldwin wrote. 'I think the NYPD has a PR problem.'
In Los Angeles, several hundred protesters marched from Pershing Square to City Hall on Saturday, and said they would remain camped at the site 'indefinitely', like their New York counterparts.
Bold statement: A protester wears some eye-catching garb as he demonstrates in Los Angeles.
Evocative: L.A. demonstrators are a range of ages, from 12-year-old Lula Rod, left, wearing haunting face paint, to an middle-aged woman, right, holding a straight-forward placard outside Los Angeles City Hall.
Star Spangled Banner: One protester in L.A. made use of the national flag to get his point across on Saturday.
Organised by a group called Occupy LA, the demonstrators echoed the refrain begun by those on the East Coast, saying they hoped to change economic polices that benefit the richest one per cent of Americans.
'In the end, what we want to do is inspire working-class people to get involved in the political process'
Adam Liszkiewics
Crowd members waved signs, including one that read 'The Banks Ate My Baby,' and chanted 'Hey hey, ho ho, corporate welfare's got to go,' the Los Angeles Times reported.
'In the end, what we want to do is inspire working-class people to get involved in the political process,' Adam Liszkiewics, a 32-year-old USC graduate student, told the paper.
The Occupy Boston movement appears the most well-developed of the off-shoot protests, with a sizeable camp, featuring tents, medical supplies and even wi-fi, setting up at Dewey Square, across from the Federal Reserve building.
Tactical groups have been formed, covering legal affairs, food and media outreach, and a crowd in the spot had reached nearly 1,000 on Friday night on the first day of protest, the Boston Herald reported.
Key organisers said they had been to New York to learn from the protests. Matthew Krawitz, an unemployed IT expert, told how he had been in Manhattan for the first day of the demonstrations there and wanted to replicate the scene in Boston.
Screaming out loud: A man wearing a U.S. flag bandana across his face shows where Boston protesters drew their inspiration, while a young woman shouts to make her message heard as hundreds of people converge on Boston Common.
Thin blue line: Demonstrators from Occupy Boston stormed their way to the Federal Reserve Bank in Boston during the first night of their protest on Friday.
Fledgling protests: The movements in Denver, left, and Seattle, right, are in their infancies and have so far been more peaceful than the New York version.
There were other protests in the city over the weekend, including one outside the Bank of America aimed at expressing people's anger at foreclosures and the announcement the bank will charge customers $5 a month to use debit cards to access their own money. It resulted in 24 arrests.
TODAY'S POLL
President Obama's old stomping ground has been gripped by the 'Occupy' movement as well. A group of activists have gathered in front of the Federal Reserve Bank Chicago as part of a rally to protest against poverty and unemployment in the U.S.
The Chicago sit-in began on September 23 with a march from Willis Tower to the bank, the Chicago Tribune reported, with some protesters calling it their Tahrir Square, in reference to the Egyptian capital Cairo.
One demonstrator, Emilio Baez, told Press TV the protest is a 'direct call to working people worldwide.'
'This is our Tahrir Square,' he said of the spot which led to a revolution in the African country. 'We'll stay here for months if we have to.'
Meanwhile, more than 100 people turned out for Occupy Seattle on Saturday, with protesters waving signs and mingling peacefully with police.
A protester sleeps on a mattress on the ground in Liberty Plaza. The 'Occupy Wall Street' movement has now entered its third week.
The activists have even produced their own newspaper 'The Occupied Wall Street Journal'. It is paid for by funds gathered online via crowd-sourcing websites.
Protestors at Occupy Wall Street's media area coordinate news updates in Manhattan's financial district's Zuccotti Park.
The demonstrators, however, are only beginning to coalesce and they acknowledge that they need to clarify their goals. Like their New York counterparts, the protesters are seeking for a place in Seattle's financial district to camp out for the winter.
'This is our Tahrir Square. We'll stay here for months if we have to'
Emilio Baez
Denver had its first protest on Saturday, with demonstrators telling 9News that they are a leaderless resistance movement of people who will no longer tolerate the greed and corruption of Wall Street.
Further 'Occupy' protests are planned for San Francisco, Washington DC, Phoenix and Albuquerque.
Meanwhile in New York, one couple apparently out to take photos after their wedding were pictured being caught up in the march over the Brooklyn Bridge, where more than 700 protesters were arrested.
It emerged as the New York Police Department said it warned the protesters they would be taken into custody before staging the mass arrest. [bs alert]
The protesters who have been camping out in Manhattan's Financial District say their movement has grown and become more organised over the last couple of weeks and they have no intention of stopping.
More than 700 people have been arrested during the protest on Brooklyn Bridge.
The protest in New York has triggered similar occupations around the country by activists angry at the power held by the big financial institutions.
The Occupy Wall Street demonstration started out small, with less than a dozen college students, but has grown to include thousands of people in communities across the country.
Now entering its third week in Manhattan, those spending their days and nights at Zuccotti Park say they're going to stay as long as they can.
New York City public school teacher Denise Martinez joined the protest on Sunday.
She says the financial industry isn't doing enough to solve the country's economic problems.
The Brooklyn Bridge was shut down and more than 700 people arrested yesterday after protesters camping out near Wall Street spilled onto the New York landmark and blocked traffic.
In a tense showdown, police took swift action - cuffing and dragging hundreds to the sidings - after many of the protesters risked being hit by cars by moving from the walkway on to the road. [bs alert]
Photo-op gone wrong: A couple encounters a sea of protesters on the Brooklyn Bridge during Occupy Wall Street demonstrations.
Life is bubbly: It seems having a crowd of angry protesters chanting didn't affect these party-goers too much.
A large group of marchers, who are rallying against corporate greed, broke off from others on the bridge's pedestrian walkway and headed across the Brooklyn-bound lanes.
In two separate videos released by police, officers are heard warning protesters that they will be arrested if they strayed from the path and onto the roadway.
A police captain is heard saying: 'I'm ordering you to leave this roadway now. If you do so voluntarily, no charges will be placed against you. If you refuse to leave, you'll be placed under arrest and charged with disorderly conduct. If you do not wish to be arrested, you must leave this area now.'
The videos emerged as a film of protesters coming face to face with the subjects of their ire attracted more than 230,000 views on YouTube.
The demonstrators were walking down Wall Street on September 17 when they came to a halt right underneath the balcony of the National City Bank Building, just as a group of so-called 'swells' were sipping champagne.
But rather than hide away the potential bankers laughed and took photos of the masses below.
Trap: Protesters are blaming police for tricking them and trapping them on the bridge leading them to believe it was acceptable to occupy the roadway.
A protester is arrested and dragged away by police on the Brooklyn Bridge, where hundreds had gathered to join the protest.
Police spokesman Paul J. Browne told the New York Times: 'Protesters who used the Brooklyn Bridge walkway were not arrested.
'Those who took over the Brooklyn-bound roadway, and impeded vehicle traffic, were arrested.'
Things came to a head when the march - which was going from Zuccotti Park to Lower Manhattan - reached the bridge.
Most of the 1,500 demonstrators stayed on the walkway but it was when a number went for the roadway that the police surrounded them with orange net and captured them
Officers cut the marchers off and plunged into the crowd and began making arrests as marchers chanted, 'Shame! Shame!'
'The protesters were supposed to stay on the pedestrian walkway and some took the roadway and we're now ... making arrests on the Brooklyn Bridge,' a police spokesman said.
Witnesses described a chaotic scene on the famous suspension bridge as a sea of police officers surrounded the protesters and tied their hands with plastic restraints.
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