Occupy’s May Day protests have slow and wet start

New York City, NY, United States (AHN) – Occupy Wall Street put out the call Tuesday for a general strike to mark International Workers Day.

The movement got off to a slow and soggy start with meager gatherings dotted around a rain soaked New York City, but things picked up worldwide in the hours that followed.

About 100 activists convened at Bryant Park in midtown Manhattan Tuesday morning, where the group had pledged a “pop-up encampment” symbolic of the movement’s early and storied days in Zuccotti Park near the iconic Wall Street financial district.

The crowd quickly separated to other locations, including right across the street from Bryant Park at the Bank of America tower. Some two dozen protestors picketed in front of the building’s main entrance. Police arrested one person in the middle of tony 6th Avenue in front of the building.

The movement noted at the start of the May Day protests that it expected  bigger turnouts at events planned later in the day as it attempts to rekindle the vibrant, vocal and voracious life that fueled a wave of nationwide protests against economic, political, environment and other injustices eight months ago.

A march with organized labor starting from New York City’s Union Square was planned for the afternoon, and a promise to “occupy” San Francisco’s’ Golden Gate Bridge was also scheduled.

The Occupy Movement was motivated by the pro-democracy protests in Arab nations last spring.

The Wall Street protestors in 2011 targeted financial polices they blamed for the growing income divide between the rich and poor, which they referred to as the 1 percent and the 99 percent.

The movement endured for months before police and local official broke up camps and protests, and after cash stores dwindled.

But, the movement went out with a bang and had a tremendous impact worldwide.

Occupy Wall Street inspired an album. The protestor graced Time magazine’s cover as Person of the Year and “occupy” was named ‘Word of the Year” for 2011.

 

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