Americas

Americas

Oakland protesters to set up new tents

20 November 2011 05:00 (UTC +04:00)

Baku-APA. Hundreds of Occupy Wall Street protesters have rallied in the western US city of Oakland, vowing to set up new tents to replace those forcibly dismantled by police earlier this week, APA reports quoting presstv.ir website.

The protesters said they were eyeing the site of their former encampment, a park three blocks away from Frank Ogawa plaza, and planned to take it over on Saturday night, Reuters reported.

Protesters were chanting â€œwe are the 99 percentâ€ as they marched down the street.

Protesters say they represent 99 percent of Americans mainly the middle class.

Protesters believe that their lives have been negatively affected by the one percent of Americans who have accumulated huge wealth by means of corporatism.

In a statement released on Saturday, Oakland police said it had a â€œnon-confrontational strategyâ€ for preventing a new campsite, but did not elaborate on the details.

Police had evicted protesters from their camp in Ogawa plaza last Monday days after a fatal shooting nearby fueled pressure on the city authorities to close the camp down.

A former marine and war veteran was wounded during a previous effort by police to remove the camp in October sparking clashes between protesters and police.

The Occupy movement owes its name to Occupy Wall Street (OWS), which emerged on September 17, when a group of demonstrators gathered in New York’s financial district to protest social inequality and top-level corruption in the country.

Despite police hindrance and mass arrests, the Occupy movement has now spread to major US cities.

The movement has also inspired similar pushes across the world, including in Australia, Britain, Germany, Italy, Spain, Ireland, and Portugal.