British police sealed off routes to the London Stock Exchange today and Italian officers conducted nationwide raids following protests on four continents.
Officers carrying batons and gas sprays manned steel barriers close to St Paul's Cathedral in London to block access to the LSE to protesters supporting the Occupy London Stock Exchange group. At least 25 police vans with wire-mesh screens and carrying additional officers were parked in side streets.
"I want to see stricter regulation of the finance system," said Joe Spence (23), an anthropology student at Kent University, one of the 250 protesters who have camped out for three nights next to the cathedral.
"I want a government that will not just pander to the banks." A notice at the campsite, about 100 yards from the LSE, read "Jail the Bankers".
The Occupy Wall Street demonstrations that began last month in New York have spread, with protests held in European and Asian cities, including Dublin, at the weekend. Over 100 people were injured during clashes in Rome, where as many as 200,000 gathered.
Italian police today launched raids in cities including Florence, Rome and Milan, according to the Ansa news agency. Gas masks and balaclavas were seized in Florence, it reported.
Other protests are continuing today in Zurich, Dublin, Amsterdam and Madrid.
Protesters spent a third day in front of the Reserve Bank of Australia after weekend rallies against economic inequality on four continents that included riots in Rome and arrests in New York and Chicago. About 30 people gathered in front of Australia's central bank in Sydney. Signs on a nearby fence included: "When I do it, it's counterfeiting. When the Reserve Bank does it, it's called Quantitative Easing."
Another 70 protesters occupied Melbourne's city square in front of the Westin Hotel.
Chicago police arrested about 175 protesters in Grant Park yesterday after they refused to disperse, local media reported.
Tokyo, Toronto and other cities also saw protests in support of the month-old movement, which organisers say represents "the 99 per cent," a nod to Nobel Prize-winning economist Joseph Stiglitz's study showing the top 1 per cent of Americans control 40 per cent of USwealth.
More than 800 people have been arrested in New York since the protests began on September 17th, mostly for disorderly conduct.