Occupy Demonstrators March on New York Stock Exchange
Nov. 17, 2011
New York City police and hundreds of Occupy movement protesters clashed this morning as the protesters knocked aside barricades in an attempt to converge on Wall Street. Protesters had vowed to prevent traders from reaching the New York Stock Exchange, but the exchange opened for trading as usual at 9:30 a.m. eastern time. Between 50 and 60 demonstrators were arrested, primarily on charges of disorderly conduct and resisting arrest.
Police had dislodged about 200 Occupy Wall Street demonstrators from Zuccotti Park in lower Manhattan on November 14. New York Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg noted, “health and safety conditions became intolerable” in the park where the demonstrators had been camping for nearly two months. The Occupy Wall Street demonstrations in New York City inspired similar movements across the United States and around the world. Participants essentially protested what they saw as an ever-widening gap between the wealth of the top 1 percent of the population compared with the rest — “the 99 percent.” They demanded a more equal distribution of the world’s wealth and a stronger response to the global economic crisis.
Additional World Book articles:
- Income (distribution of income)
- Economic Crisis: The Banking Meltdown (a special report)
- Economic Crisis: The Government Jumps In (a special report)
- Economic Crises: Then and Now (a special report)