NEW YORK - Hundred of people marched in New York’s lower Manhattan ahead of the first anniversary of Occupy Wall Street (OWS) on Monday in a bid to rejuvenate a movement that has failed to sustain momentum after sparking a national conversation about economic inequality last year.
Police patrolled the crowd Saturday and took at least a dozen people into custody near Trinity Church that borders Zuccotti Park, the movement’s headquarters. Police confirmed they made arrests, mostly for disorderly conduct, but they did not have a total number.
The group, which popularized the phrase “We are the 99 percent,” will attempt to surround the New York Stock Exchange and disrupt morning rush hour in the financial district, according to a movement spokeswoman. Monday’s protests will cap a weekend of Occupy Wall Street seminars, music and demonstrations in New York, said Linnea Paton, an OWS spokeswoman. Demonstrations are also planned in other U.S. cities, other OWS organizers said.
The grassroots movement caught the world by surprise last fall with a spontaneous encampment in lower Manhattan that soon spread to cities across North America and Europe. Occupy Wall Street briefly revived a long-dormant spirit of U.S. social activism, and drew enduring attention to economic injustice. But the movement’s colourful cast of theatrical demonstrators struggled through last winter to sustain the momentum that first drew attention to its patchwork of economic grievances - including corporate malfeasance on Wall Street, crippling student debt and aggressive bank foreclosures on American homes.
On Sunday, organizers will provide live music, including a Foley Square concert featuring Tom Morello, guitarist for the rock band Rage Against the Machine. At 7 a.m. Monday, some protesters will try to surround the NYSE, while others will engage in a loosely choreographed series of “sit-ins” at intersections throughout the financial district, according to OWS’s website.
The tactics are designed to undermine New York police efforts to contain protesters on the narrow, winding streets of the financial district.
Last year’s demonstrations featured the spectacle of activists breaking into sudden dashes down one narrow street or another, pursued by visibly frustrated police and television reporters tripping down cobblestone streets. Chief New York Police Department spokesman Paul Brown confirmed that no OWS demonstration permit applications were submitted, but said police will be prepared for demonstrations. “We accommodate peaceful protests and make arrests for unlawful activity,” he said.