Occupy Wall Street Goes Global: 900 Protests Around the World, Thousands in Times Square

As the rest of the world joined the protests, New Yorkers flooded Times Square--including some police who may be posing as protesters.by Justin Elliott, Salon

October 16, 2011  |  

 

Photo Credit: Justin Elliott

 

This piece originally appeared at Salon.

 I was in Times Square Saturday as thousands of Occupy Wall Street protesters brought their anti-greed, pro-economic justice message to Manhattan’s brightly lit temple of consumerism and corporate culture. The protest in New York occurred along with hundreds of other coordinated actions around the country and the world. Large affiliated crowds marched in London, Frankfurt, and Rome, where rioters hijacked a peaceful anti-austerity protest. There was a reported total of 900 protests in cities around the world, ranging in size. The day capped a month of exponential growth for a movement that started in New York on Sept. 17, and has since spread to nearly 2,000 towns and cities.

Here is a panoramic photo I took in Times Square Saturday. This is a single-shot view of the crowd, which largely stopped pedestrian traffic through the busy commercial hub for a few hours.