On the one year anniversary of Occupy Wall Street, over 180 protesters were arrested. Reports indicate that the revival for the anniversary was not as large as the crowds that originally gathered at Zuccotti Park last fall, with only a few hundred protesters spread throughout the city.
Police were far less tolerant of the grassroots gathering to protest than they were last year. The movement grew as a response to the “corrosive power major banks and multinational corporations over the democratic process,” according to the de facto website representing the movement. Inspired by the movements in Egypt and Tunisia, the Occupy Wall Street movement coined the term the “1 percent,” the smallest population of Americans which controls most of the nation’s wealth.
Yesterday’s small revival featured small bands of about a dozen protesters each, marching between intersections in New York’s financial sector. Police barricades completely blocked Zuccotti Park, and officers maintained a presence all day. Most of the arrests took place by the early evening on the charges of disorderly conduct.
Anniversary events were planned for more than 30 cities around the world. There were no arrests reported in San Francisco tied to the event, which was reported to be peaceful. In Oakland, were riots erupted last October and police fired tear gas on protesters, police prepared for the one-year anniversary by enclosing City Hall in a metal fence. Seattle protesters marked the anniversary by marching with dollar bills taped across their mouths.
News reports overall are signalling a decline in the luster of the Occupy movement based on the low turnout at the recent events. The mission of the movement is to draw attention to the influence of corporate money in politics, and movement supporters have not indicated a shutdown.
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