More than 10,000 people flooded the Wall Street area on Thursday to call on Mayor Bloomberg to close the loopholes and stop the destructive bank practices that destroy our communities and cost taxpayers billions instead of enacting layoffs and budget cuts that hurt working families and low-income New Yorkers.
People from all colors, ages, nationalities, ethnicities and social backgrounds got together. The entire city gatehered together behind, mainly, the defense to education. The feeling was: ok, up to here Bloomberg advanced but not to the point of leaving our children with no education, with no teachers and, subsequently, with no “future”.
Main claims: no cuts to social services – no more cuts to education [most visible claim] – jobs – no corporate greed – no union-busting – no privatization – no to bloomberg´s 4th term — in sum: a people´s budget and not a corporate´s budget!
You could see and feel very strong emotions in people´s faces, expressions and chants. I was very moved myself, as a teacher. You could feel people´s anger and also, people´s political consciousness about the contradiction/opposition between ruling for private interests vs ruling for the people.
The afternoon of events began at 4:00pm from eight different assembly sites, each themed around budget and issues areas at risk from Mayor Bloomberg’s cuts and bad bank practices.
ASSEMBLY SITES:
(1) Education City Hall* 260 Broadway
(2) Students Charging Bull 26 Broadway
(3) Transportation/Energy Bowling Green 1 Bowling Green
(4) Immigration Battery Park Battery Place and State Street
(5) Housing Staten Island Ferry 1 State Street
(6) Peace Vietnam Veterans Memorial 55 Water Street
(7) Jobs Wall Street Fountain 110 Wall St
(8) Human Services / Safety Net South St. Seaport 20 Fulton St
Demonstrators then marched from the assembly sites to the intersection of Water Street and Wall Street, where they will participate in over 100 street teach-ins to educate the public on the bad deals, loopholes and sweetheart deals for Wall Street that cost New York City billions.
All participants then converged on to Water Street and Wall Street and marched down to Battery Park for an energetic closing session.
Visuals: 10,000 demonstrators, giant puppets, original artwork, stilt walkers, marching bands and more.
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