Scotland Yard managed to prevent the occupation of Paternoster Square, home to the London Stock Exchange and Goldman Sachs, in the City of London as protests against the global financial system spread from Wall Street in New York to London on Saturday.
There were massive protests in Berlin and Rome as well. The protest against the global banking industry, which has its roots in the May 15 protest in Spain, was highlighted in the global media after the successful occupation of Wall Street in New York for four weeks now. Heavy police presence, including mounted officers and officers in riot gear, and a court injunction prevented the anti-capitalist activists from even entering the privately-owned Paternoster Square. Hopeful activists had even stuck a sign of Tahrir Square on the wall near Paternoster Square, invoking the spirit of the successful Cairo protests against the then President, Mr Hosni Mubarak.
In the UK, the protesters, under the umbrella of Occupy London Stock Exchange (OccupyLSX), gathered in front of St. Paul’s Cathedral after the police thwarted their bid to occupy the London Stock Exchange. “Come on guys join us, we are in this together. They are going to take your jobs away too,” a masked protester shouted to the line of police officers. WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange addressed the protesters and was welcomed with applause. The protesters aim to camp near St. Paul’s till Monday morning at least to get a chance to confront the people working for the London Stock Exchange. The protest is expected to spread to almost a thousand cities, 82 countries and six continents.