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  • Occupy Wall Street protester Chris Philips screams as he is arrested near Zuccotti Park, Monday in New York. Multiple Occupy Wall Street protesters have been arrested during a march toward the New York Stock Exchange on the anniversary of the grass-roots movement. The Associated Press/John Minchillo

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September 18, 2012

More than 100 protesters arrested

Anniversary of movement brings out protesters

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NEW YORK (AP) — Occupy Wall Street protesters celebrated the movement's anniversary on Monday by clogging intersections in the city's financial district, marching to the beat of drums that were a familiar refrain last year.

Protesters roamed around the lower Manhattan financial district all morning in groups of a few dozen each, from one intersection to another and back again, chanting loudly about the ills of Wall Street. In total, there were a few hundred protesters scattered throughout the city. More than 100 of them were arrested by midafternoon, mostly on disorderly conduct charges.

The day's events lacked the heft of Occupy protests last year, when protesters gathered by the thousands. But Occupiers were upbeat as they spread out in their old stomping grounds, giddy at the prospect of being together again. They brushed off any suggestions that the movement had petered out.

"This is a movement. It's only been a year," said protester Justin Stone Diaz, of Brooklyn. "It's going to take many years for it to develop and figure out exactly who we are."

But the movement is now a shadow of its mighty infancy, when a group of young people harnessed the power of a disillusioned nation and took to the streets chanting about corporate greed and inequality.

A familiar Statue of Liberty puppet was back, bobbing in the crowd above protesters' heads. Protesters in wheelchairs blocked a road and chanted "All day, all week, occupy Wall Street!" before they were steered off the road by police.

Zuccotti Park, the former home of the encampment, was encircled by metal police barricades lined with police officers standing watch.

Events were planned in more than 30 cities worldwide.

In Oakland, Calif., a metal fence surrounds the City Hall lawn that was the hub of several violent clashes between demonstrators and police during fall Occupy-inspired protests that attracted international attention.

Banks including Citigroup and Wells Fargo have said they're committed to having open dialogue and working with their customers during difficult economic times.

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