Protesters worldwide geared up for a cry of rage on Saturday
against bankers, financiers and politicians they accuse of ruining
global economies and condemning millions to poverty and hardship through
greed.
Galvanized by the past month's Occupy Wall Street movement, the global
protest began on a sunny spring day in New Zealand and is due to ripple
round the world to Alaska via Frankfurt, London, Washington and New
York.
Riot police prepared for any trouble. Cities such as London and Athens
have seen violent confrontations this year but it was impossible to
say how many people would actually turn out despite a rallying call
across social media websites.
"I've been waiting for this protest for a long time, since 2008," said
Daniel Schreiber, 28, an editor in Berlin. "I was always wondering why
people aren't outraged and why nothing has happened and finally, three
years later, it's happening."
About 200 gathered in the capital Wellington and 50 in a park in the earthquake-hit southern city of Christchurch.
In Sydney, about 2,000 people, including representatives of Aboriginal groups, communists and trade unionists, protested outside the central Reserve Bank of Australia.
"I think people want real democracy," said Nick Carson, a spokesman for OccupyMelbourne.Org, as about 1,000 gathered in the Australian city. "They don't want corporate influence over their politicians. They want their politicians to be accountable."
Hundreds marched in Tokyo, including anti-nuclear protesters. Dozens in Manila, capital of the Philippines, marched on the U.S. Embassy waving banners reading: "Down with U.S. imperialism" and "Philippines not for sale".(READ FULL ARTICLE HERE)
Video Report from Sydney:
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Al Jazeera surveys 'occupy protests' in Asia
Captured from LIVE BLOG from the Guardian UK:
1.31pm: One of the remarkable features of the Occupy movement is how it is now spreading across the world. One of the largest demonstrations today was in Spain -- the Guardian's correspondent, Giles Tremlett, has filed this dispatch from Madrid where more than 10,000 people have gathered today.Spain's Indignados, who started the global protest movement in May, are out in some 60 cities today.
I'm with at least 10,000 marchers who have gathered in the centre of Madrid at the Plaza de Cibeles. More people are arriving all the time as half a dozen different marches converge in a city where austerity measures have included cuts in teachers' numbers.
"Hands up! This is a robbery!" is one of the cries of the peaceful protest on a sunny autumn afternoon.
Marchers are now heading towards the Puerta del Sol, where the global protests started with a massive spontaneous camp out on May 15. It looks like the crowd is now growing considerably.
1.28pm: Adam Gabbatt, who has been with protesters marching through Lower Manhattan today, thinks there may have been at least 1,000 and possibly 2,000 people on the march, which passed the offices of JP Morgan Chase, taking in a couple of Chase bank branches en route. (The investment bank JP Morgan Chase last year made a huge $4.6m donation to the New York city police federation, and Chase retail bank is number 1 in the foreclosures chart in the US, and is being investigated in New York for allegedly fraudulent foreclosures.)
The march headed north up Broadway, making life difficult for participants of the Avon breast cancer 39.3 mile walk which is taking place today, before heading east to West Broadway, which leads up to the Washington square park destination.
A student general assmbly took place there at 12 noon, and marchers will gather with their student cohorts ahead of the main event of the day - the 5pm convergence on the iconic Times Square which is being billed by organisers as an opportunity to "take Times Square". It's unlikely we'll see a Zuccotti Park-esque camp springing up, but with the permanently-packed Times Square being one of the most popular tourist spots, it'll certainly be interesting.
1.21pm: And in New York, it seems the Occupy movement is gathering strength. At one point on Thursday it seemed like it could all be over, when the owners of Zuccotti Park said they planned to clean up the plaza and prevent people from using sleeping bags and other camping gear -- in effect, an eviction. The NYPD were standing by to enforce the new rules, leading to fears of an ugly confrontation.
But, after intervention from, among others, New York state senator David Squadron in a late-night call to the Brookfield Properties CEO, the company backed down -- and Paul Harris remarks on the protesters seem newly emboldened.
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