More ‘Occupy’ protests Tuesday

Occupy Toronto protests continued Tuesday, with marchers once again taking over the Yonge and Dundas intersection.

Around 8:30 p.m., demonstrators marched down King Street, from their home base at St. James Park.

A small but vocal group with numbers estimated to be less than a hundred made its way toward the Yonge-Dundas intersection, briefly taking over the area before it was reopened by police.

The group eventually made its way back to St. James Park.

Earlier in the day an offshoot group held another rally in the financial district, after a demonstration a day earlier fizzled due to small numbers.

Only two people showed up at the designated meeting time of 8 a.m. at King and York streets, while people continued to gather throughout the day in St. James Park.

The group is a splinter of the larger Occupy Toronto and is also planning another demonstration later this week.

“We’re holding another protest this friday @ Queen’s Park, also trying to work w/ Occupy Toronto,” the group tweeted Tuesday morning.

The Occupy Bay Street protesters began organizing events separate from Occupy Toronto because they felt little action was being taken. Only about 30 demonstrators turned out Monday morning for a protest at King and York for the opening of the Toronto Stock Exchange.

On Monday, Occupy Toronto demonstrators marched from their home base at St. James Park, at King and Church streets, to Ryerson University for a rally as part of the school’s social justice week.

Later in the day, more Occupy Toronto protesters held up traffic at Yonge and Dundas streets by forming the number 99 in the intersection to symbolize the group’s claim that one per cent of the population earns its fortune off the backs of 99 per cent of society.

Both groups were inspired by the Occupy Wall Street protest that began in Manhattan on Sept. 17. Similar protests against the imbalance of wealth and social inequalities eventually spread across the United States and the world.