By Dave Warner
PHILADELPHIA (Reuters) – At least 500 protesters gathered in historic Philadelphia on Thursday, chanting and waved placards reading “I did not think ‘By the People, For the People’ meant 1 percent,” a reference to their anger over economic inequality in America.
Protests that started in New York City weeks ago — with a major theme the argument that the country’s richest have too much of its wealth and political power — have been spreading to a number of U.S. cities, with several in different parts of the nation on Thursday.
Police surrounded the peaceful crowd outside Philadelphia’s City Hall, as video of a New York clash between police and protesters after a march there late Wednesday was widely circulated on the Internet.
Protesters in Manhattan said police wielded pepper spray and nightsticks and authorities said 27 were arrested, mostly for disorderly conduct.
Demonstrations outside New York have remained mostly peaceful, although 10 protesters were arrested in St Louis late on Wednesday for violating curfew. There was no resistance from demonstrators, whose flyers said “Our government is corrupted. Both parties have sold us out to Wall Street.”
In Philadelphia, college students, blue collar workers and some union organizers said they came together to press the message calling for economic change.
“I’m here to support a movement for people who are losing their houses, losing their jobs. Everyone is sick and tired of it,” said Dezeray Rubinchik, 33, who works in a pawn shop.
Similar protests were underway or planned on Thursday in Austin, Texas; Tampa, Florida; Washington, D.C.; and Houston, Texas, among other cities.
About 200 people gathered for an “Occupy Houston” demonstration in front of City Hall in downtown, just blocks away from the former headquarters of Enron Corp., the once prominent company that collapsed in bankruptcy and scandal.
Demonstrators marched through the Houston streets carrying signs like “Greed is not good” and “Where’s my bailout?” and chanting “hey hey, ho ho, corporate greed has got to go” and “We are the 99 percent,” another reference to the idea that the top 1 percent of Americans have too much.
Support from unions has helped swell the crowds at demonstrations, and organizers predicted that backing would keep the momentum building.
“This is the beginning,” said John Preston in Philadelphia, business manager for Teamsters Local 929, who wore his Teamsters shirt.
“I am confident Teamsters will support the movement city to city,” he said. “We bailed out the banks, and they are not giving back to bail out U.S. citizens.”
A spokesman for Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter said the protesters were welcome to express their views as long as they stick to their promise for a peaceful demonstration.
“Philadelphia is the cradle of liberty,” said mayoral spokesman Mark McDonald. “It’s where freedom of speech was enshrined in the Constitution.”
(Additional reporting by Bruce Olson in St. Louis and Chris Baltimore in Houston; Writing by Barbara Goldberg; Editing by Jerry Norton)
