| NYC Protesters Shut Down Wall Street 09, 18, 2011 Protesters who promised to turned Wall Street into an "American Tahrir Square" were frustrated by cops who locked down the financial district in response to the demonstrations. "More than 1000 protesters gathered in Manhattan for the demonstrations, but they were thwarted by police who put Wall Street on lockdown after learning about the plans through social media," the Daily Mail reports. "Protesters organized the rally under the hash-tag of #OccupyWallStreet on Twitter and Facebook, but police spotted this and shut down Wall Street near the Stock Exchange and Federal Hall." Major banks -- including Bank of America Corp., JPMorgan Chase & Co., Morgan Stanley and Citigroup Inc. -- operate in the area blocked by police. "We need to retake the freedom that has been stolen from the people," a call to action posted on the OccupyWallStreet website proclaims. The call was taken up groups not only on the so-called left, but also by anarchists and supporters of the "right-wing figure Lyndon LaRouche." According to the Economic Times, protest organizers have called for protesters to camp out for weeks or even months and repeat the protests that have occurred in Egypt, Spain and Israel. The group has called for workers to "not only strike, but seize their workplaces collectively" and "for the seizure and use of abandoned buildings, of abandoned land, of every property seized and abandoned by speculators, for the people, for every ... |
