Occupy action turns to U.S., Canada

October16, 2011

NEW YORK – Demonstrations motivated by the Occupy Wall Street movement that started Saturday in New Zealand and then headed west to European cities were being followed by protests in North America, with marches held in cities in the U.S. and Canada.

In New York, about 2,000 protesters marched through the city’s financial district before a rally in Times Square planned to begin at 5 p.m. Eastern. “At the present time, Broadway matinee and evening shows will go on as scheduled,” the Broadway League said in a statement reported by Reuters.

“Wall Street CEOs are doing very well and sitting on tons of money and they’re not contributing their fair share and shared responsibility to the economy,” Ted Fang of the United Auto Workers was quoted as saying by local news station NY1.

In Washington, the March for Jobs and Justice, organized by the Rev. Al Sharpton and others, was planned as a show of support for President Barack Obama’s jobs proposal. According to a story in the Washington Post, Sharpton, referring to Congress, told the crowd: “If you won’t get the jobs bill done in the suite, we will get the jobs bill done in the street. It’s time for us to occupy Wall Street! Occupy DC! Occupy Alabama!”

Separately, others gathered in a show of support for district voting rights and the Occupy Wall Street movement, eventually joining Sharpton’s group at the Martin Luther King Jr. memorial.

About two dozen protesters were reportedly arrested Saturday in Denver, and hundreds marched in Florida’s capital in participating in “Occupy Tallahassee.” At least 500 were expected to attend a rally in downtown Miami.

A few dozen protesters have been camped out for the past week in Charlotte, N.C., not far from the headquarters of the country’s largest bank, Bank of America Corp., according to the Associated Press.

Police in Pittsburgh planned to close several streets for a march ahead of a planned rally and camp in Mellon Green, a small park owned by BNY Mellon, scheduled for 4 p.m. Eastern, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported.

In Canada, several thousand people gathered in a Toronto park near the city’s financial district, to protest inequality and higher taxes for the rich. Hundreds also reportedly gathered in Montreal, with demonstrators setting up tents in Victoria Park.

By Kate Gibson, Marketwatch