Global rallies against capitalism
16 October, 2011
ROME: The Wall Street protest against the capitalist system has spread across the globe as demonstrators in different parts of the world on Saturday shouted their rage against corporate greed and government cutbacks. Inspired by America's "Occupy Wall Street" and Spain's "Indignants", people took to the streets in a rolling action targeting 951 cities in 82 countries from Asia to Europe, Africa and the Americas. Most rallies were however small and barely held up traffic. In the largest single rally of the day, tens of thousands marched in Rome, which was under a security lockdown. The historic Rome square turned into a battlefield as protesters pelted police vans with rocks and bottles and police fired tear gas and water cannon jets into the crowd. Seventy people were injured in the violent clashes, with three in a serious condition, Italian news agency ANSA reported. Twenty-five were treated at a field clinic near St John Lateran square. The 45 others were taken to other emergency wards in Rome, the report said. Groups of peaceful protesters could be seen huddling on the steps of St John Lateran basilica for shelter as the battle raged in front of them. Adding to the chaos, the flow of traffic through the busy hub was not blocked off and cars could be seen driving chaotically through the square. Stones were thrown at a Ferrari and a Mercedes that found themselves in the midst of the violence. Earlier, hooded protesters set several cars alight and smashed the windows of banks and shops. "Shame! Shame!" some shouted at police, as others tried to make their way out of police lines around the square with their hands in the air. "This is disgusting! It's the government's fault for forcing young people to act like this. They've left us without a choice," said Laura, 23. The worldwide protests were a response in part to calls by the New York demonstrators for more people to join them. Their example has prompted calls for similar occupations in dozens of US cities from Saturday. New Zealand and Australia got the ball rolling on Saturday. Several hundred people marched up the main street in Auckland, New Zealand's biggest city, joining a rally at which 3,000 chanted and banged drums, denouncing corporate greed. 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. Hundreds marched in Tokyo, including anti-nuclear protesters. In Manila, capital of the Philippines, a few dozen marched on the US embassy waving banners reading: "Down with US imperialism" and "Philippines not for sale". More than 100 people gathered at the Taipei stock exchange, chanting "we are Taiwan's 99 percent", and saying economic growth had only benefited companies while middle-class salaries barely covered soaring housing, education and healthcare costs. Greek protesters called an anti-austerity rally for Saturday in Athens' Syntagma Square. "What is happening in Greece now is the nightmare awaiting other countries in the future. Solidarity is the people's weapon," the Real Democracy group said in a statement calling on people to join the protest. In Paris protests were expected to coincide with the G20 finance chiefs' meeting there. In Madrid, seven marches were planned to unite in Cibeles square at 16:00 GMT and then march to the central Puerta de Sol. Scuffles broke out in London where about 800 people rallied in the financial district by Saint Paul's Cathedral, raising banners saying: "Strike back!"; "No cuts!" and "Goldman Sachs is the work of the devil!" Three lines of police, and one line at the rear on horseback, blocked them from heading to the London Stock Exchange and pushed back against lead marchers, some wearing masks. WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange also joined the protest in London. Assange, flanked by bodyguards, got a warm reception from the demonstrators as he addressed them from the steps of the cathedral. "One of the reasons why we support what is happening here in Occupy London is because the banking system in London is the recipient of corrupt money," the WikiLeaks founder told demonstrators. Tens of thousands of people took to the streets of Lisbon to protest against the austerity programmes of the European Union and the International Monetary Fund. Organisers said 50,000 people of all ages marched peacefully through the streets of Lisbon to parliament, shouting slogans and carrying barriers denouncing the EU, the IMF and the European Central Bank. "We are victims of financial speculation and this austerity programme is going to ruin us," 25-year-old Mathieu Rego told AFP, as he marched in Lisbon. About 50 protesters gathered outside Africa's biggest bourse, the Johannesburg Stock Exchange, to voice concern over the country's widening gap between rich and poor. Other protests were staged in Zurich and Geneva, Brussels and Sarajevo. As the day began, around 500 people gathered in the heart of Hong Kong's financial district to vent their anger at the inequities and excesses of free-market capitalism. Meanwhile, about 2,000 protesters with the Occupy Wall Street movement marched through New York's financial district on Saturday ahead of a planned rally in Times Square. The demonstrators in Lower Manhattan banged drums and chanted, "We got sold out, banks got bailed out," "All day, all week, occupy Wall Street," and "Hey hey, ho ho, corporate greed has got to go." Protests inspired by the Occupy Wall Street movement were held in cities in the United States and Canada on Saturday. In Washington, hundreds of protesters turned out, while a couple of thousand people gathered peacefully in Toronto's St James park, a few blocks from the city's financial district. The marchers in New York were making their way to Times Square for a rally at 5 pm EDT (21:00 GMT). The protesters were also to march to Chase Bank to close their accounts in support of thousands of staff who have been sacked since the lender received billions of dollars in a bailout. End.
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