Thousands of protestors occupied Melbourne

Islam Times: By the time protesters who had been at a separate demonstration in solidarity with Palestine joined the assembly, numbers had grown to more than 2000 people.

Tents and stalls have been set up for the indefinite occupation. Stalls have been set up by groups including: refugee support and campaign groups; equal marriage campaign groups; an Indigenous tent and a media tent for independent media groups.

Occupy Melbourne activist Phil Stallard addressed the assembly, explaining the significance of the movement: “We, the people, rallying in Occupy Together protests around the world are battling first and foremost for the right to life, in the face of elitist governments and corporations doing their best to depopulate this globe through machinations hardly known to the public.

“As one people, united, we the 99% acknowledge the reality. That the future of the human race requires the cooperation of its members together with a system that protects our rights upon corruption of that system”

The purpose of yesterday's Occupy Melbourne rally was not entirely clear, but the protestors who took over the City Square appeared to agree on one thing that our democracy is broken.

Mitchell Cherry, 23, who planned to camp out in the square with others said “What we've seen all over the world is that governments are completely unresponsive to the people, and what we want is an opportunity for people to have a say in the way their lives are governed and the things that are happening around them”.

“I've brought my tent and I'll move in to occupy Melbourne tonight.”

This was a peaceful protest. But among the crowd there was talk of a revolution. “'We need to find ways to convince people to attack capitalism as a system,” said one protestor.

Asked what he hoped to achieve, Nick Carson, 23, an RMIT sound-art student, said that was up to the people of Melbourne. “We'll be running general assemblies where we'll be working towards achieving consensus on particular issues. So we may decide we want to release a statement of aims, or a declaration of grievances,” he said.

Even though that Australia has come out of the global financial crisis relatively safe compared with the US and parts of Europe, Mr Carson said the protest was still relevant. “This is to stamp out a lack of accountability and to try and do something about the unfair influence of the wealthiest 1 per cent of our population and to find a real voice for the 99 per cent of us who are going mostly unrepresented.”

More than 1000 people rallied in Sydney's Martin Place yesterday, with organizers saying they were prepared to camp there indefinitely to fight corporate greed. Organizers were hoping for demonstrations overnight in 951 cities across 82 countries.