'Occupy' protests at financial crisis go worldwide

Thousands of protesters took to the streets in Sydney, Tokyo, Hong Kong, Athens, Berlin, Rome and London

Protests against alleged corporate greed and government cutbacks have been held in cities around the world.

Clashes erupted at the biggest rally, in Rome, when riot police intervened after a small group of masked militants attacked property.

Police used tear gas and water, and baton-charged the crowd.

Inspired by the Occupy Wall St movement and Spain's "Indignants", demonstrators turned out from Asia to Europe, but numbers were generally small.

Organisers expect rallies in 82 countries, with the protests due to come full circle when they reach New York.

Organisers said on their website that the aim was to "initiate the global change we want".

"United in one voice, we will let politicians, and the financial elites they serve, know it is up to us, the people, to decide our future," it said.

Slogans painted in the Spanish capital Madrid were full of anger at politicians accused of serving the banks, not the people, and frustration over an economic crisis which has hit poor people and the young very hard, the BBC's Sarah Rainsford reports.

Masked militants

Tens of thousands of people turned out to demonstrate peacefully in Rome, the BBC's David Willey.

Television pictures from the city showed streets packed with protesters waving banners, close to the Colosseum.

Economic protests

• Original protest began on 15 May in Spain, badly hit by economic crisis
• Sit-in at Madrid's Sol Square became a weeks-long protest camp
• Israel also hit by summer of protests over high cost of living. Protest camp in Tel Aviv
• Occupy Wall Street (OWS) protest began in New York in September with small number of activists but soon grew to 1,500
• OWS organisers say they are defending 99% of US population against wealthiest 1%
• OWS used as model for global protests

• In pictures: Worldwide protests

However militants dressed in black inflitrated the crowd and began attacking property. Offices belonging to the Italian defence ministry were set on fire, three cars were burnt and there were attacks on cash dispensers and bank and shop windows.

Police moved in after bottles were reportedly thrown at them.

The militants were also challenged by other protesters, our correspondent says.

There was a message of support for the global day of protest from the chief of the Bank of Italy, Mario Draghi, who is set to take over as head of the European Central Bank (ECB) next month.

"Young people are right to be indignant," he was quoted by Italian media as saying in informal comments at the G20 summit in Paris.

"They're angry against the world of finance. I understand them... We adults are angry about the crisis. Can you imagine people who are in their twenties or thirties?"

Outside the ECB itself in Frankfurt, Germany, hundreds of people gathered to protest on Saturday.

Evening rally

At least 1,000 people demonstrated in London's financial district but were prevented by police from reaching the Stock Exchange.

In Dublin, about 400 people marched to a hotel where an EU/IMF/ECB delegation involved in the country's ongoing financial bailout is staying, the Irish Times reports.

Madrid, where protests over the global crisis first began in May when hundreds took over the city's Puerta del Sol square, is to see its main demonstrations on Saturday evening, with all-night events planned.

Most of Saturday's rallies have been small, with traffic barely disrupted.

Hundreds of people marched in New Zealand cities while in Sydney, Australia, some 2,000 people - including representatives of Aboriginal groups, communists and trade unionists - rallied outside the central Reserve Bank of Australia.

"Occupy" protests were also been held in South Korea, the Philippines, Taiwan and Hong Kong.

It remains to be seen if any of the demonstrations turn into protest camps, such as Occupy Wall Street, which began with a small group of activists in New York's financial district a couple of months ago and has now grown to include several thousand people at times, from many walks of life.

Observers say that, while the original protesters in Spain had concrete demands such as seeking a cut in working hours to tackle unemployment, many "Occupy" protesters are vague in their demands.

Source: BBC