NEW YORK?? In its biggest day yet, thousands of anti-Wall Street protesters rallied in Times Square on Saturday, buoyed by a global day of demonstrations backing their month-long campaign against economic inequality.
"Banks got bailed out, we got sold out!" protesters chanted from within police barricades. Police, some in riot gear and mounted on horses, tried to push them out of the square and onto the sidewalks in an attempt to funnel the crowds away.
Sandy Peterson of Salt Lake City, who was in Times Square after seeing "The Book of Mormon" musical on Broadway, got caught up in the disorder.
"We're getting out of here before this gets ugly," she said.
Police said that more than 80 people had been arrested in the course of the day, and two police officers suffered injuries and had to be hospitalized.
The Occupy Wall Street demonstrators had marched north through Manhattan from Washington Square Park earlier in the afternoon. Once in Times Square, they held a rally for several hours before dispersing.
Police spokesman Paul Browne said 42 of those were arrested in Times Square on Saturday night after being warned repeatedly to disperse, and three others were arrested while trying to take down police barriers.
Protesters assembled at Washington Square Park for an after-party Saturday night, but as a midnight park curfew fell, squads of police swept the park as demonstrators chanted and marched away. About 10 who stayed behind were arrested, police said.
Many demonstrators marched back to their main encampment at Zucotti Park.
Story: Protests go global, rampage, tear gas in Rome
Over the past month, the protests have expanded from New York's financial district to cities across the United States and abroad. Demonstrations were called this weekend in the U.S., Canada and Europe, as well as in Asia and Africa.
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In New York, where the movement began when protesters set up camp in a Lower Manhattan park on Sept. 17, organizers said the protest grew to at least 5,000 people as they marched to Times Square from their makeshift outdoor headquarters.
The Times Square mood was akin to New Year's Eve, when the famed "ball drop" occurs. In a festive mood, protesters were joined by throngs of tourists snapping pictures, together counting back from 10 and shouting, "Happy New Year."
The protest arrived in Times Square at a time when the area was crowded with tourists and Broadway theatergoers.
Sandra Fox, 69, of Baton Rouge, La., stood, confused, on 46th Street with a ticket for "Anything Goes" in her hand as riot police pushed a knot of about 200 shouting protesters toward her.
"I think it's horrible what they're doing," she said of the protesters. "These people need to go get jobs."
New York police said about 70 people had been arrested, including 24 at a Citibank branch in Manhattan's Greenwich Village neighborhood, mostly for trespassing. Protesters said those arrested were trying to close their accounts. A Reuters reporters saw another five people arrested as the protest neared Times Square.
"It's not every day that you get to be at the most significant uprising in a generation," Occupy Wall Street said on its Facebook page. Protesters said they did not have any police permits for the New York demonstrations.
Police were directing protesters to stay on the sidewalk, saying they would arrest anyone who did not keep moving.
The march came a day after protesters at the heart of the "Occupy Wall Street" movement in New York exulted Friday after beating back a plan they said was intended to clear them from the privately owned park where they have slept, eaten and protested for the past month. They said their victory will embolden the movement across the U.S. and abroad.
"We are going to piggy-back off the success of today, and it's going to be bigger than we ever imagined," said protester Daniel Zetah after Friday's announcement that protesters could remain in the park.
In the U.S., marches were planned in cities large and small from Providence, Rhode Island, to Little Rock, Arkansas; to Seattle. About 200 people camped overnight in Detroit, a group spokeswoman said.
How does a group like Occupy Wall Street get anything done?
The U.S. protests were linking up with anti-austerity demonstrations that have raged across debt-ridden Europe for months.
A call for mass protests on Saturday originated a month ago from a meeting in Spain, where mostly young and unemployed people angry at the country's handling of the economic crisis have been demonstrating for months. It was reposted on the Occupy Wall Street website and has been further amplified through social media.
On Saturday, tens of thousands nicknamed "the indignant" marched in European cities from Sarajevo, Bosnia, to Stockholm.
In Toronto, about 2,000 people gathered peacefully and started to set up a camp in a park. Some of the protesters announced plans to camp out indefinitely in St. James Park and protests were also held in other cities across Canada from Halifax, Nova Scotia, to Vancouver, British Columbia.
In Mexico City, a few hundred protesters gathered under the towering, stone Revolution Monument to protest "exploitation" by wealthy elites. In the border city of Tijuana, about 100 protesters gathered in the banking district, including many university students protesting against the lack of jobs for graduates.
Rallies across the USA
Marchers throughout the U.S. ranged from about 50 people in Jackson, Miss., to about 2,000 in the larger city of Pittsburgh.
"I am going to start my life as an adult in debt and that's not fair," student Nathaniel Brown told Reuters Television. "Millions of teenagers across the country are going to start their futures in debt, while all of these corporations are getting money fed all the time and none of us can get any."
In Miami about 500 protesters turned out carrying posters that read "People not profits", "This is the 2nd American Revolution" and "Heal America, tax Wall Street."
Nearly 1,500 gathered Saturday for a march past banks in downtown Orlando.
About 50 people met in a park in downtown Jackson, Miss., carrying signs calling for "Health Care Not Warfare."
Some made more considerable commitments to try to get their voices heard. Nearly 200 spent a cold night in tents in Grand Circus Park in Detroit, donning gloves, scarves and heavy coats to keep warm, said Helen Stockton, a 34-year-old certified midwife from Ypsilanti, and plan to remain there "as long as it takes to effect change."
"It's easy to ignore us," Stockton said. Then she referred to the financial institutions, saying, "But we are not going to ignore them. Every shiver in our bones reminds us of why we are here."
Hundreds more converged near the Michigan's Capitol in Lansing with the same message, the Lansing State Journal reported.
Rallies drew young and old, laborers and retirees. In Pittsburgh, marchers also included parents with children in strollers and even a doctor. The peaceful crowd of 1,500 to 2,000 stretched for two or three blocks.
"I see our members losing jobs. People are angry," said Janet Hill, 49, who works for the United Steelworkers, which she said hosted a sign-making event before the march.
At least 2,000 Occupy Denver demonstrators marched peacefully through downtown Saturday afternoon, the Denver Post reported. Five hours later, police and dedicated protesters clashed after dining tents were pitched at Civic Center park. Officers arrested 24 people and knocked down the tents.
Chicago protesters moved to an area in Grant Park Saturday night after a crowd of about 2,000 people marched from LaSalle Street and Jackson to Congress Plaza, north of Congress Parkway and east of Michigan Avenue, the Chicago Tribune reported.
Bearing homemade signs, American flags and printed banners, the crowd settled in the plaza to listen to a variety of speakers, while some participants erected tents and set up sleeping bags.
"This is our Tahrir Square," said one speaker, comparing the demonstration to protests in Egypt as part of what has been called the Arab Spring. "We're not going to take it anymore! We're going to take these streets!"
Police surrounded the park after a curfew while protesters refused to leave.
Slideshow: Global Occupy protests begin (on this page)
Another 5,000 marched through Los Angeles and gathered peacefully outside City Hall.
Michael Goodblatt, 29, a doctor at UCLA Medical Center, was at the protest with a group of doctors. He said they had all seen first hand how people had suffered during the recession.
"These are our people and we want to show our support because this affects everyone," Goodblatt said.
Rallies downtown, uptown
Retired teacher Albert Siemsen of Milwaukee said at a demonstration in the Wisconsin city that he'd grown angry watching school funding get cut at the same time that banks and corporations gained more influence in government. The 81-year-old wants to see tighter Wall Street regulation.
Around him, protesters held signs reading, "Keep your corporate hands off my government," and "Mr. Obama, Tear Down That Wall Street."
Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick visited protesters in Boston's Dewey Square for the first time. He said that after walking through the camp, he better understands the range of views and was sympathetic to concerns about unemployment, health care and the influence of money in politics.
The Rev. Al Sharpton, a prominent civil rights leader, led a march in Washington that was not affiliated with the Occupy movement but shared similar goals. His rally was aimed at drumming up support for President Barack Obama's jobs plan. Thousands of demonstrators packed the lawn in the shadow of the Washington Monument to hear labor, education and civil rights leaders speak, including Sharpton.
Reuters and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/44914155/ns/us_news-life/
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