Grassroots groups and online activists rally against the proposed taxpayer rescue of Wall Street.
The public backlash against the Bush administration’s proposal touse tax dollars to bailout Wall Street spilled into the streetsThursday.
“People all over the country are up in arms aboutthis,” said David Elliot, a spokesman for grassroots advocacy groupUsAction. “Our members are livid, and they’re hitting the streets.”
TrueMajority.com,an online forum for activists, said its members had organized 251events in more than 41 states to protest the bailout.
Severalother grassroots organizations were involved in the protests, includingDemocracy for America, the Association of Community Organizations forReform Now (Acorn) and labor unions.
A rally organized by the New York Central Labor Council took placethis afternoon on Wall Street near the New York Stock Exchange. Thatwas followed by a more informal protest that began to take shape onWall Street shortly after the financial markets closed.
“There isno agenda, no leaders, no organizing group, nothing to endorse otherthan we’re not going to pay!,” read an anonymous e-mail message postedon the Web site of the New York City Independent Media Center.
Theposting urged protestors to “take it to the heart of the financialdistrict,” by gathering near the famous Wall Street bull statue at 4p.m. ET.
“We have everything we need to create a large, peaceful,loud demonstration,” the e-mail said. “By having it later in the day wecan show these thieves, as they leave work, we’re not their suckers.”