Protests go global, rampage, tear gas in Rome
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Hundreds of hooded, masked protesters rampaged through Rome in some of the worst violence in the Italian capital for years Saturday, torching cars and breaking windows during a larger peaceful protest against elites blamed for economic downturn.
Police repeatedly fired tear gas and water cannon in attempts to disperse them but the clashes with a minority of violent demonstrators stretched into the evening, hours after tens of thousands of people in Rome joined a global "day of rage" against bankers and politicians.
Smoke rose over many parts of the neighborhood between the Colosseum and St John's Basilica, forcing many residents and peaceful demonstrators to run into buildings and churches for shelter as militant protesters ran wild.
After police managed to push the well-organized radicals away from the St John's area, they ravaged a major thoroughfare, the Via Merulana ? building barricades with garbage cans and setting the netting of the scaffolding of a building on fire.
Discontent is smoldering in Italy over high unemployment, political paralysis and 60 billion euros ($83 billion) of austerity measures that have raised taxes and the cost of health care.
The violence at times resembled urban guerrilla warfare as protesters hurled rocks, bottles and fireworks at police, who responded by repeatedly charging the demonstrators.
Tens of people were injured, one of them critically, among the police and demonstrators, officials said.
At one point radicals surrounded a police van near St John's Basilica, pelted it with rock and bottles, and set it on fire. The two occupants managed to escape, television footage showed.
Some peaceful demonstrators also clashed with the militants and turned some of them over to police.
A day of worldwide protests inspired by the Occupy Wall Street movement in the United States began Saturday with the hundreds of people gathering in cities from Japan and South Korea to Australia.
Organizers had hoped to see non-violent demonstrations in 951 cities in Asia, Europe, South America and Africa in addition to every state in the United States.
Frankfurt
In the continental Europe's financial capital, some 5,000 people protested in front of the European Central Bank, while in London, around 500 people marched from St. Paul's cathedral to the nearby stock exchange.
A website called 15october.net urged the people of the world to "rise up" and "claim their rights and demand a true democracy."
"Now it is time for all of us to join in a global non violent protest. The ruling powers work for the benefit of just a few, ignoring the will of the vast majority and the human and environmental price we all have to pay. This intolerable situation must end," the website says.
Sydney
About 2,000 people, including representatives of Aboriginal groups, communists and trade unionists, protested outside the central Reserve Bank of Australia.
"I think people want real democracy," said Nick Carson, a spokesman for OccupyMelbourne.Org. "They don't want corporate influence over their politicians. They want their politicians to be accountable."
The crowd cheered a speaker who shouted, "We're sick of corporate greed! Big banks, big corporate power standing over us and taking away our rights!"
How does a group like Occupy Wall Street get anything done?
Danny Lim, a 67-year-old immigrant from Malaysia, said he moved to Australia 48 years ago in search of opportunities.
Now he no longer trusts the government to look after his best interests. He thinks Australia's government has become too dependent upon the U.S. for direction.
"The big man ? they don't care. They screw everyone. Eventually we'll mortgage our children away," Lim said.
Tokyo
Where the ongoing nuclear crisis dominates public concerns, about 200 people joined the global protests Saturday.
Under the light drizzle, the participants marched outside the Tokyo Electric Power Co., which operates the tsunami-hit Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear plant, chanting anti-nuclear slogans, while opposing the U.S.-led Trans-Pacific Partnership free trade bloc that Japan is considering joining.
"No to nuclear power," the marchers chanted as they held up banners.
Ed Jones / AFP - Getty Images
A man holds a placard during a protest to express anger at "the inequities and excesses of free-market capitalism" in Hong Kong Saturday. Taiwan
Over 100 people gathered at the Taipei 101 skyscraper, home to the stock exchange, chanting "we are Taiwan's 99 percent", saying economic growth had only benefited companies while middle-class salaries barely covered soaring housing, education and healthcare costs.
They found support from a top businessmen, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Corp Chairman Morris Chang, who told reporters in the northern city of Hsinchu that Taiwan's income gap was a serious issue
<iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/dpkBjEQ2qNI" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
Hundreds of hooded, masked protesters rampaged through Rome in some of the worst violence in the Italian capital for years Saturday, torching cars and breaking windows during a larger peaceful protest against elites blamed for economic downturn.
Police repeatedly fired tear gas and water cannon in attempts to disperse them but the clashes with a minority of violent demonstrators stretched into the evening, hours after tens of thousands of people in Rome joined a global "day of rage" against bankers and politicians.
Smoke rose over many parts of the neighborhood between the Colosseum and St John's Basilica, forcing many residents and peaceful demonstrators to run into buildings and churches for shelter as militant protesters ran wild.
After police managed to push the well-organized radicals away from the St John's area, they ravaged a major thoroughfare, the Via Merulana ? building barricades with garbage cans and setting the netting of the scaffolding of a building on fire.
Discontent is smoldering in Italy over high unemployment, political paralysis and 60 billion euros ($83 billion) of austerity measures that have raised taxes and the cost of health care.
The violence at times resembled urban guerrilla warfare as protesters hurled rocks, bottles and fireworks at police, who responded by repeatedly charging the demonstrators.
Tens of people were injured, one of them critically, among the police and demonstrators, officials said.
At one point radicals surrounded a police van near St John's Basilica, pelted it with rock and bottles, and set it on fire. The two occupants managed to escape, television footage showed.
Some peaceful demonstrators also clashed with the militants and turned some of them over to police.
A day of worldwide protests inspired by the Occupy Wall Street movement in the United States began Saturday with the hundreds of people gathering in cities from Japan and South Korea to Australia.
Organizers had hoped to see non-violent demonstrations in 951 cities in Asia, Europe, South America and Africa in addition to every state in the United States.
Frankfurt
In the continental Europe's financial capital, some 5,000 people protested in front of the European Central Bank, while in London, around 500 people marched from St. Paul's cathedral to the nearby stock exchange.
A website called 15october.net urged the people of the world to "rise up" and "claim their rights and demand a true democracy."
"Now it is time for all of us to join in a global non violent protest. The ruling powers work for the benefit of just a few, ignoring the will of the vast majority and the human and environmental price we all have to pay. This intolerable situation must end," the website says.
Sydney
About 2,000 people, including representatives of Aboriginal groups, communists and trade unionists, protested outside the central Reserve Bank of Australia.
"I think people want real democracy," said Nick Carson, a spokesman for OccupyMelbourne.Org. "They don't want corporate influence over their politicians. They want their politicians to be accountable."
The crowd cheered a speaker who shouted, "We're sick of corporate greed! Big banks, big corporate power standing over us and taking away our rights!"
How does a group like Occupy Wall Street get anything done?
Danny Lim, a 67-year-old immigrant from Malaysia, said he moved to Australia 48 years ago in search of opportunities.
Now he no longer trusts the government to look after his best interests. He thinks Australia's government has become too dependent upon the U.S. for direction.
"The big man ? they don't care. They screw everyone. Eventually we'll mortgage our children away," Lim said.
Tokyo
Where the ongoing nuclear crisis dominates public concerns, about 200 people joined the global protests Saturday.
Under the light drizzle, the participants marched outside the Tokyo Electric Power Co., which operates the tsunami-hit Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear plant, chanting anti-nuclear slogans, while opposing the U.S.-led Trans-Pacific Partnership free trade bloc that Japan is considering joining.
"No to nuclear power," the marchers chanted as they held up banners.
Ed Jones / AFP - Getty Images
A man holds a placard during a protest to express anger at "the inequities and excesses of free-market capitalism" in Hong Kong Saturday. Taiwan
Over 100 people gathered at the Taipei 101 skyscraper, home to the stock exchange, chanting "we are Taiwan's 99 percent", saying economic growth had only benefited companies while middle-class salaries barely covered soaring housing, education and healthcare costs.
They found support from a top businessmen, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Corp Chairman Morris Chang, who told reporters in the northern city of Hsinchu that Taiwan's income gap was a serious issue
opcorn2
