Palace: Protesters merely copying Occupy Wall Street movement

Secretary Edwin Lacierda INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

Apparently, Malacañang thinks they are just copycats.

A Palace official on Sunday said the government had been tolerant of the militant groups that had tried but failed to occupy Mendiola in an effort to reprise the Occupy protests in the United States and other parts of the world.

Presidential spokesperson Edwin Lacierda said the groups were merely causing trouble and provoking the police, who had “exercised a wide berth of tolerance” for them the past week.

Over government radio dzRB, Lacierda said a number of policemen were hurt during the dispersal of the protesters.

A number of protesters were hurt, too, as gleaned from reports and television footage.

“Admittedly, they are raising issues that are not what the Occupy Wall Street protesters (are pushing for). They are trying to ape Occupy Wall Street [by] using the same line, the same slogan,” he said.

The Occupy Wall Street movement in New York was started by young people in protest of the greed of major banks and multinational corporations. They identify with the 99 percent of the common people versus the one percent that control the wealth in the US.

Lacierda stressed the government will “protect our citizenry.” Christine O. Avendaño