Thaindian News

Washington, Oct 12 (IANS) “Occupy Wall Street”, a growing movement blaming corporate America for the nation’s economic woes, has spread from New York to some 70 major cities, including the national capital Washington DC.

The movement, which has been compared by some to the Arab Spring movement, sparked clashes in the capital and Boston, where several protesters were arrested Tuesday.

In Washington, six people were arrested as they entered a Senate office building and began chanting loudly and unfurling banners calling for the end of overseas wars and for increased taxes on the rich.

An organizer cited by the Washington Post said hundreds of protesters, inspired by the “Occupy Wall Street” protests in Manhattan, gathered on open walkways that face the building’s atrium on the third, fifth and seventh floors and chanted “How do you fix the deficit? End the wars! Tax the rich!”

Originally called for by the Canadian activist group Adbusters, the “Occupy Wall Street” participants are mainly protesting against social and economic inequality, corporate greed, and the influence of corporate money and lobbyists on government.

In Boston, scores of protesters, including a group of veterans, were arrested in the early hours of Tuesday in one of the largest mass arrests in the city’s recent history, the Post said.

Members of the Boston Police Department moved in to dismantle and destroy tents after protesters ignored multiple warnings to move from the Rose Kennedy Greenway, a strip of parks and public spaces where they have been camped out for more than a week, the Boston Globe reported.

According to Boston Police Commissioner Ed Davis, 100 arrests were made, including a female veteran of the Iraq War.

Meanwhile, protest demonstrations continued in New York’s Zuccotti Park, formerly “Liberty Plaza Park” as the movement spread to some 70 cities.

(Arun Kumar can be contacted at arun.kumar@ians.in)