Several dozen protesters were arrested in New York’s financial district after hundreds of them, many clad in blue, occupied the corner of Wall Street and Broadway on Monday to protest what they saw as the financial sector’s role in promoting investments in planet-polluting industries. The “Flood Wall Street” protest kicked off with a rally in Battery Park, where participants listened to speeches and received basic training in civil disobedience. The protesters moved on to the district’s famous Charging Bull statue and then headed to Wall Street and Broadway. The crowd tried to storm barricades the NYPD had erected, at which point police started shoving them back and using pepper spray. Flood Wall Street came a day after an estimated 300,000 people, including Al Gore, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, and New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio marched for action on climate change in New York. Tomorrow, President Obama will address to the United Nations General Assembly on the same issue.
