One day after a massive climate change march reportedly drew roughly 300,000 people to New York City, a smaller group of protesters has gathered near the New York Stock Exchange in lower Manhattan to protest the role they say financial institutions have in furthering climate change.
Rallying on social media with the hashtag #FloodWallStreet, a crowd of a couple of thousand blue-clad protesters has tried to stage a sit-in on the NYSE steps and are blocking off lower Broadway nearby. Reports suggest that there has been at least one arrest and that a large contingent of police has gathered to quell the protest, which does not have a permit. Protest organizers said on their website that the rally, which began in Battery Park before marching over to the Financial District around noon, is aimed at the finance industry to “confront the system that both causes and profits from the crisis that is threatening humanity.”
Sunday’s People’s Climate March, which was apparently sanctioned by the NYPD, included a two-mile march through Manhattan and the marchers were joined at points by New York City major Bill de Blasio and United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki Moon.
The tagline for the group behind Monday’s protest is “Stop Capitalism. End the Climate Crisis.” The protesters unfurled banners with the “Flood Wall Street” slogan, while the hashtag popped up frequently on Twitter:
Climate activists gather early in Lower Manhattan for the #FloodWallStreet action today. Http://t.co/fITGicJC3Mpic.twitter.com/ymHqopASpr
— Democracy Now! (@democracynow) September 22, 2014
The banner emerges! Thousands flood Wall Street! #floodwallstreet#peoplesclimate#ittakesrootspic.twitter.com/JLfiLKnZaF
— Flood Wall Street (@FloodWallStreet) September 22, 2014
#FloodWallSreet is holding Broadway near Wall St. -police buses in sight #PeopleClimateMarch
— Jeff Rae (@jeffrae) September 22, 2014
2,500 people in the streets, took broadway, surrounded the bull, unfurled 300ft banner. Singing. #FloodWallStreetpic.twitter.com/Lf3LGdrZH5
— Yotam Marom (@yotammarom) September 22, 2014
Some Twitter users reported that police had been using pepper spray in an attempt to control the crowd
https://twitter.com/YourAnonGlobal/status/514154224922669059
Riot cops standing behind barricades at Pine st and Broadway ave. #FloodWallStreetpic.twitter.com/S4JE1pubrf
— Miki Pope (@MikiTakesPhotos) September 22, 2014
congrats for being pepper sprayed #floodwallstreetpic.twitter.com/UjtqM3dExb
— Azi™️ (@Azi) September 22, 2014