Ten years ago today, hundreds of demonstrators gathered in Lower Manhattan on what would become Occupy Wall Street.
“They held teach-ins, engaged in discussion and debate and waved signs with messages like ‘Democracy Not Corporatization’ or ‘Revoke Corporate Personhood,’” The New York Times reported.
“Organizers, promoters and supporters called the day, which had been widely discussed on Twitter and other social media sites, simply September 17.”
In the coming weeks, the demonstrators would pitch tents in Zuccotti Park the protests would set off a national movement. But that first day, the protesters found themselves stymied. Their target, Wall Street, had been blocked by police barricades by 10 a.m.
Eventually, though, they made it in: “As a chilly darkness descended, a few hundred people realized one of the day’s objectives by setting foot onto Wall Street after a quick march through winding streets, trailed by police scooters.”
In the above photo, Pete Seeger joins the Occupy Wall Street demonstration.