Friday, October 14, 2011

As Calls for Protests Go Global, Italy Jumps the Gun

As Calls for Protests Go Global, Italy Jumps the Gun

As Calls for Protests Go Global, Italy Jumps the Gun
Online organizers have set Saturday as the date to spread the Occupy Wall Street protests to cities around the world.
But some protesters in Italy on Friday got the jump, marching through the streets of Milan, hurling food at bank branches and storming into the local office of Goldman Sachs.
Reuters reports that the protesters were quickly dispersed by the police and building security, but not before they had a chance to leave some graffiti critical of Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi along with scrawls of a more direct sort: “Give us money.”
Afterward, according to video posted by the Italian daily Il Fatto Quotidiano, the group tried to move on the offices of Fininvest, a holding company controlled by Mr. Berlusconi’s family, but were blocked by the police. They hurled rotten fruit and vegetables and shouted against the prime minister, who earlier in the morning narrowly survived a no-confidence vote in Parliament.
“We will never have confidence in you, you robbing mafioso,” some in the crowd chanted.
Elsewhere, protesters have been trying to incite a worldwide day of protest on #Oct15.
A central organizing Web site maps more than 950 cities in 82 countries from Albania to Venezuela where protesters plan marches under the banner, “United for Global Change.” (In New York, Adbusters, the magazine that first called for the occupation of Wall Street over the summer, is pushing an Occupy Party in Times Square for Saturday afternoon.)
The calls for protests on Saturday have garnered attention from the news media, but the interest on social media seems relatively modest so far. The Facebook page of United for Global Change has roughly 21,000 likes and on Twitter, only about 8,800 people have signed up for updates.

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