OWS marks 100th day of protests

The Occupy Wall Street (OWS) protesters in New York mark the 100th day of protests against corruption and corporate greed in the United States during the Christmas Day festivities. The demonstrators gathered in New York's Zuccotti Park, an epicenter of the OWS movement, and started the Christmas Day celebrations with a prayer service at midnight. "Christmas in a lot of ways defines a lot of the problems that we're facing," said one participant. "It's a very isolating time for people, especially this year when people have had homes foreclosed and lost their jobs and all that sort of stuff." Meanwhile, protesters in Washington DC pledged to continue the occupation of the McPherson Square over the holidays. The anti-corporatism protesters have vowed to stay in their tents over the Christmas and New Year holidays in a move to express solidarity with other Occupy protesters across the country. This comes as the US police have intensified their crackdown on protests against the social and political injustice across the US. Most anti-Wall Street encampments in the country have been forcibly cleared. The Occupy movement first began when a group of demonstrators gathered in New York's financial district on September 17, 2011 to protest against the unjust distribution of wealth in the country and the excessive influence of big corporations on US policies. Despite the police crackdown and the mass arrests, the Occupy movement has now spread to many major US cities as well as to other countries such as Australia, Britain, Germany, Italy, Spain, Ireland, Portugal, etc.