Nov. 15, 2011

New York City police dislodged about 200 Occupy Wall Street demonstrators from Zuccotti Park in lower Manhattan early this morning. About 200 of the protesters were arrested, primarily on charges of disorderly conduct and resisting arrest. 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.

Oakland, California, which lies on the eastern shore of San Francisco Bay, is one of the busiest ports on the West Coast of the United States. Oakland Convention Bureau.

The Occupy encampment in downtown Oakland, California, was similarly shut down police on November 14. City officials had issued several orders for protesters to abandon the camp in the wake of a fatal shooting there the week before. The police arrested more than 30 protesters without incident. The Occupy demonstrations in Oakland had been more violent than those in other cities. On November 3, hundreds of police in riot gear fired tear gas and other projectiles at several thousand protesters in an attempt to break up a demonstration at the Port of Oakland on San Francisco Bay. The riot was triggered when protesters essentially shut down the entrance to the port, keeping the night shift from getting to work on the docks.

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)