New York: The month-old Occupy Wall Street movement is still growing, with nearly $300,000 (Dh1.1 million) in the bank and the satisfaction of drawing attention to what it calls the financial elite's overly dominant influence on society.
From a few dozen people camping out in a small Manhattan park near the rising World Trade Center complex, the movement swelled to hundreds of thousands of people rallying around the world last weekend and numerous encampments springing up in cities large and small.
For the most part, the US protest action remained loosely organised and there were no specific demands, something Legba Carrefour, a participant in the Occupy DC protest, found comforting.
Own reasons
"When movements come up with specific demands, they cease to be movements and transform into political campaign rallies," said Carrefour, who works as a coat check attendant despite holding a master's degree in cultural studies. "It's compelling a lot of people to come out for their own reasons rather than the reasons that someone else has given to them."
Still, there is conflict. Some protesters eventually want the movement to rally around a goal, while others insist that isn't the point.
"We're moving fast, without a hierarchical structure and lots of gears turning," said Justin Strekal, a college student who travelled from Cleveland to New York to help. "Egos are clashing, but this is participatory democracy in a little park."
300 arrested
Wall Street protesters are intent on building on momentum gained from Saturday's worldwide demonstrations, which drew hundreds of thousands of people, mostly in the US and Europe.
Nearly $300,000 in cash has been donated through the movement's website and by visitors to the park, said Bill Dobbs, a press liaison for Occupy Wall Street.
US cities large and small were "occupied" over the weekend: Washington, DC; Fairbanks, Alaska; Burlington, Vermont; Rapid City, South Dakota; and Cheyenne, Wyoming, were just a few. Around the US, over 350 people were arrested in half a dozen cities during the protests.
