Occupy Wall Street: Protests Continue on Day 2
Wall Street was blocked off by the New York City Police Department for a second day in a row as demonstration organizers-primarily from the group OccupyWallStreet-targeting Wall Street financial firms tried to keep up protests.
According to Bloomberg, between 300 and 400 people hung around Chase Manhattan Plaza on Sunday, significantly lower than the nearly 1,000 the day before for a protest dubbed "#OccupyWallStreet." An additional group of people marched uptown on Broadway with signs reading "end corporate welfare" and "we are too big to fail."
"People have a right to protest, and if they want to protest, we'll be happy to make sure they have locations to do it," said New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg at a Sept. 15 press conference. "As long as they do it where other people's rights are respected, this is the place where people can speak their minds, and that's what makes New York, New York."
Police officers had completely blocked off Wall Street. In order to get on the street Sunday, people, including employees from the International Business Times, were asked if they lived or worked in the area before they were granted permission to pass through the barricades.
Events began on Saturday, as OccupyWallStreet on their website said, "The American Revolution Begins Sept. 17."
"At lot of us feel there is a large crisis in our economy and a lot of it is caused by the folks who do business here," 26- year old Jason Ahmadi from Oakland, Calif, told the New York Daily News.
Spokesmen for a variety of different banks in the area have declined to comment on the matter.
The number of protesters who made it down to Wall Street was far lower than the 20,000 protesters the organizers were hoping would inundate the area. At this point, it is unclear how many people are expected to show up to Wall Street on Monday, when many Wall Street employees will be heading back to work.
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