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Thousands protest against big corporations in LA

16 October 2011 04:23 (UTC +04:00)

Baku-APA. Thousands of protesters took to streets of downtown Los Angeles Saturday to show their anger over dominant financial institutions, APA reports quoting Xinhua.

The protest was part of the two-week-long "Occupy Los Angeles" movement, which is part of the movement of "Occupy Wall Street."

"We are the 99 (percent)," shouted the marchers together, as they moved peacefully from Pershing Square to City Hall through the financial district under the escort of local police.

They carried signs reading "99% Too big to fail," "Blame Wall Street No Concessions" and "Corporate Out of Politics."

"Things are not fair, and people are unable to have medical bills, and these corporations are kind of in charge and controlling so many things," Neil Wade, a protester, told Xinhua.

"I see all the budget cuts to my kid’s programs, that they are not having adequate books, and yet we spend billions on wars and find corporate bailouts," a social worker called Shauna Escadivo said, who was also among the protesters.

For his part, Kevin Michael Patten told Xinhua that he joined the march to raise awareness of the fractional banking system, which has enriched corporations on Wall Street and the infrastructure related to the military industrial complex that supports war.

"All these things will have to be reformed if they weren’t constantly giving money," he said.

The Los Angeles City Council has already adopted a resolution to support the "Occupy Los Angeles" movement. The document, introduced by councilmembers Richard Alarcon and Bill Rosendahl, seeks to address "the city’s position to support the First Amendment Rights carried out by ’Occupy Los Angeles.’"

Los Angeles is one of the few U.S. cities where the police department has taken no actions to disperse or arrest the protesters, even when the number of camping tents around the City Hall almost reached 300.

"Occupy Wall Street" has spread from the East Coast to Los Angeles at the beginning of this month. The protesters are mostly young and angry at Wall Street greed, corporate influence in politics and the richest one percent of Americans who are enriching themselves while the majority faces unemployment, growing poverty rates and austerity measures.