'Occupy' protests go global, riding wave of economic frustration
Protests in solidarity with 'Occupy Wall Street' occurred in US cities and around the world Saturday, sometimes drawing several thousand marchers. A key reason: Unemployment remains high, three years after a financial crisis in which banks got controversial bailouts.
By Mark Trumbull, Staff writer / October 15, 2011
The spirit of the "Occupy Wall Street" rippled around the globe on Saturday, as protesters called for economic and political change in places spanning from Japan and New Zealand to Italy, Britain, and the United States.
The day of coordinated action underscored that common frustrations that are being felt by ordinary people around the world, particularly by a "lost generation" of young people who face poor job prospects.
While most rallies were small and barely held up traffic, the march in Rome drew tens of thousands of people and snaked through the city center for miles. Italy is among the European nations where concerns about government debt have led to unpopular austerity measures -- tax hikes and budget cuts.
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Unemployment remains high in much of the developed world, even though about three years have passed since the depth of the financial crisis, and the banking bailouts that followed. The jobless rate is above 9 percent in the US, 7.7 percent in Britain, and nearly 10 percent in the euro zone, according to data reported in August by the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis.
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http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Politics/2011/1015/Occupy-protests-go-global-riding-wave-of-economic-frustration