Wednesday 12 October 2011

Wall Street protesters take demo to doorsteps of the rich

They started their protest in New York's financial district, speaking out against Wall Street companies and denouncing corporate greed and the gap between rich and poor.

Then demonstrators from the Occupy Wall Street movement took it uptown to the homes of corporate executives.

At first walking in pairs on the sidewalk, because they had no march permit and did not want to be charged with blocking traffic, their numbers swelled to a half dozen abreast as members of the movement and other groups made their way up Manhattan's East Side on Tuesday.

They walked along streets such as Fifth Avenue and Park Avenue, where some of the richest 1 percent of the US population live in townhouses and luxury apartments.
They paused outside buildings where News Corp chairman Rupert Murdoch, JPMorgan Chase boss Jamie Dimon and oil tycoon David Koch have homes, and decried the impending expiration of New York's 2 percent "millionaires' tax" in December.

Yesterday, Dimon was to be the focus of another protest, with demonstrators gathering at the New York headquarters of JPMorgan Chase to focus again on the expiring tax.

For some weeks, protesters have been camped in a park near Wall Street. The uptown march marked the first time the Occupy Wall Street movement has identified specific people as being part of the 1 percent the demonstrators say are getting rich at the expense of the rest of the US.

Michael Pollack, an office worker in a law firm, said: "I have nothing against these people personally. I just think they should pay their fair share of taxes." He held up a sign quoting department store founder Edward Filene: "Why shouldn't the American people take half my money from me? I took all of it from them."

When the march reached Park Avenue and East 93rd Street, protesters stopped in front of a building where they said Dimon has an apartment. Marchers shouted: "Where is our bailout?" and "How do we end this deficit? End the war, tax the rich."

JPMorgan was among the banks that received a federal bailout, money it has since repaid.

Dimon is supported by city mayor Michael Bloomberg, himself a billionaire executive, who said: "Jamie Dimon is an honorable person working very hard. He pays his taxes."

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