American Awakening- Occupy Wall Street protesters stage rally in front of NYSE

Occupy Wall Street protesters have staged a rally in front of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) to decry economic inequality in the United States.

On Friday, the protesters marched through the streets of lower Manhattan and finally gathered in front of the NYSE where they formed a circle and started chanting slogans as the stock exchange rang its closing bell at 16:00 EDT (20:00 GMT), Reuters reported.

They accused Wall Street of influencing US politicians in favor of the richest one percent.

“The closing bell of the stock exchange symbolizes the prioritization of economics over politics in our society. The fact is that our politicians are more beholden to these institutions than the people they are supposed to represent,” said Mark Bray, a member of the Occupy Wall Street press working group.

“So by holding the people’s gong, we’re having a symbolic representation of our response. We’re saying ‘No, the priority has to be family, the priority has to be workers, students, immigrants.’ …That’s why we’re out here,” He added.

Organizers of Friday protest said they would repeat the march every Friday until May Day when a mass rally is scheduled to be held.

Having targeted US financial policies, the ’99-percenters’ have been using the slogan “We are the 99 percent” to distinguish themselves from the one percent of Americans who are in possession of the greatest portion of the nation’s wealth.

The Occupy protesters say they are against the dominance of the top one percent and social inequality in America.

The movement, which sparked a wave of protests across the US, emerged after a group of people on September 17 rallied in New York’s financial district under the motto of ‘Occupy Wall Street,’ protesting corruption, poverty as well as social inequality in the US.