It was on and popping today as thousands of protesters across the world joined the May Day demonstrations on Tuesday, with Occupy Wall Street members in several U.S. cities leading rallies and in some cases, clashing with police.
STORY: May Day, May Day! Occupy Wall Street Is BACK!
In Oakland, Calif., stinging gas sent demonstrators fleeing a downtown intersection where they were protesting.
It was unclear whether police fired the gas, but officers took four people into custody.
Dressed in all black, protesters in Seattle used sticks on small downtown windows and ran through the streets disrupting traffic.
In New York, police in riot gear lined the front of a Bank of America, facing several dozen Occupy activists marching behind barricades. “Bank of America, Bad for America!” they chanted. About 50 demonstrators in Chicago rallied outside another of the bank’s branches.
Across the world, protests drew tens of thousands of demonstrators into the streets, from the Philippines to Berlin. They demanded everything from wage increases to an end to austerity measures.
In Berlin, Germany the most violent of demonstrations took place as protesters attacked a Sparkasse Bank branch during a May Day demonstration in the district of Kreuzberg.
The Associated Press reports:
In New York, where the first Occupy camp was set up and where large protests attracted some of the earliest attention – and mass arrests – to the movement, protesters gathered at Bryant Park in Manhattan. They prepared to march to financial institutions, including Chase and Citibank.
The crowd grew to several hundred with a drum-and-brass live band as a soundtrack. John Connors, who said he was a financial analyst, took the day off, as well as his shirt, revealing a chest with the words, “Black Hole of Finance,” painted on it.
Threatening letters containing a white powder that appeared to be corn starch were sent to some institutions.
Three letters were received Tuesday, two at News Corp. headquarters and addressed to the Wall Street Journal and Fox News, and one to Citigroup. The message in the letters said: “Happy May Day.”
Seven letters were received Monday at various banks. One was sent to New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg.
May Day protests have in recent years focused on immigrant rights. Some of the Occupy protests were violent, but admirably, many remained peaceful. Take a look at pictures in the accompanying gallery!
SOURCE: AP
