Protests Near Stock Exchange on Occupy Wall St. Anniversary

By COLIN MOYNIHAN

Protesters began gathering in the financial district early on Monday morning - the first anniversary of the Occupy Wall Street movement - assembling at various spots near the New York Stock Exchange. About 200 people had gathered by 7 a.m. at Zuccotti Park, which protesters took over last year and used as an encampment.

The police were also visible in large numbers throughout the area. Just after 7 a.m. four officers on scooters followed four bicyclists dressed as polar bears â€"â€" to symbolize rising water tables resulting from global warming, they said â€"â€" on their way to an assembly spot outside the Lower Manhattan ferry terminal.

Police vans were parked on side streets throughout the financial district and helicopters buzzed overhead. Men in suits walking to work passed contingents of officers posted on corners.

By 7:30 a.m. perhaps 400 protesters had arrived at the Vietnam Veterans memorial on Water Street.

Their plan was to converge from several directions and form a “human 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.

At the veterans memorial plaza Oren Goldberg, 32, from Bushwick, Brooklyn, said, “It's exciting to see any group of people attempting any sort of change,” adding that Occupy participants were interested in “working toward a greater good than profiteering.”

Next to him, Grace de la Aguilera, 27, a graduate student in Spanish who is also from Bushwick, said she had decided to join the protest out of “dissatisfaction with the economy.”

Soon lines of police officers wearing helmets arrived at the plaza. They stood in ranks near Water Street as the protesters gathered in a circle and held a meeting.

One organizer, Austin Guest, urged people to travel in groups for their own safety.

“Hey, everyone, we're going to shut down Wall Street today,” he shouted as the protesters clapped and cheered. Mr. Guest explained that various groups of protesters had mapped out a plan to travel to different intersections and streets near the stock exchange to try to block those areas. He warned that arrests were possible.

“Our target is William and Wall Street,” he said. “We are going to split up and assemble back there.”

Near Water Street police commanders wearing white shirts consulted and officers on horseback lined up in a row. The protesters continued to discuss their plans and announced in unison a telephone number for legal help, which many of them wrote with markers on their arms.