Dear Commons Community,

The New York Times is reporting that more than 150 people were arrested yesterday as demonstrators tried to block access to the New York Stock Exchange on the first anniversary of the Occupy Wall Street Movement.

Demonstrators had planned to converge from several directions and form what was called the People’s Wall around the stock exchange to protest what they said was an unfair economic system that benefited the rich and corporations at the expense of ordinary citizens.

Last year, protesters took over Zuccotti Park, not far from Wall Street, setting up an encampment that became an inspiration for similar Occupy campaigns around the world. But after being evicted from the park in November, the protests lost much of their energy, though their message of economic inequality has resonated in Washington and in the presidential campaign.

On Monday, the police countered the blockade planned by protesters with one of their own, ringing the streets and sidewalks leading toward the exchange with metal barricades and asking for identification from workers seeking access.

Protesters marched though the streets, waving banners and banging drums while accompanied by bands playing “Happy Birthday.”

Tony