Occupy Wall Street reaches 1-month birthday
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The month-old Occupy Wall Street movement enjoyed its new momentum on Tuesday, with nearly USD 300,000 in the bank and the satisfaction of drawing global attention to what it sees as major economic inequalities.
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon expressed sympathy with the protesters, and even protest-averse China said some issues raised are worth considering.
From a few dozen people camping out in a small Manhattan park near the rising World Trade Center complex, the movement swelled to hundreds of thousands of people rallying around the world this weekend and numerous encampments springing up in cities large and small.
Hundreds of protesters today mingled with besmused bank workers in a new tent camp outside London's St Paul's Cathedral. The UN leader said the finance chiefs from the Group of 20 rich and developing nations, now meeting in Paris, should listen to the demonstrators.
"Business as usual, or just looking at their own internal economic issues, will not give any answers to a very serious international economic crisis," Ban said.
"That is what you are seeing all around the world, starting from Wall Street, people are showing their frustrations, are trying to send a very clear and unambiguous message around the world."
The Wall Street protesters still haven't settled on a specific demand but are intent on building on momentum gained from Saturday's worldwide demonstrations, which drew hundreds of thousands of people, mostly in the US and Europe.
President Barack Obama referred to the protests during Monday's dedication of a monument for Martin Luther King Jr, saying the civil rights leader 'would want us to challenge the excesses of Wall Street without demonizing those who work there'.
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