'Occupy the globe' comes to Maritimes

Crowds of demonstrators gathered around the Maritimes to kick off a series of "Occupy" protests around Canada denouncing corporate greed and financial mismanagement, mirroring similar rallies that have rapidly spread from the U.S. to dozens of countries around the world.

For weeks protesters in New York have been raising their concerns about corporate greed and a lack of accountability in the global financial system.

In Halifax, the CBC's Michael Dick said at 11 a.m., there were about 35 people at Grand Parade in downtown Halifax. About20 tents were set up, many people with food and sleeping bags.

By 1 p.m. there wereat least 300people and about 30 police officers watching over the protest.

Dick said he talked to one demonstrator setting up a tent who was prepared to spend several days in Grand Parade to get his message across.

Many people carried signs that said things such as "More sacrifices" and "Stop the corporate greed."

In Fredericton, about85protestors had gathered in front of City Hall by early afternoon.

Mentions on Twitter suggested Moncton's Occupy demonstration saw about 150 people, and about 100 in Saint John.

Police in all three New Brunswick citiestold the CBC's Bailey White there no incidents related to the demonstrations.

White said while there were people of all ages at the demonstration, many of the people there were university-aged.

She said it was quite quiet, though many of the crowd were voicing their concerns by carrying signs with captions such as "We are the 99 per cent", representing the chunk of the North American population said to besuffering financial hardship on account of the imbalanced economic system.

She also said anti-fracking signs could also be seen amongst the crowd.

The Fredericton demonstration will end Saturday evening with a walk around downtown.

In Charlottetown, about125 people had gathered in front of the Coles Building next to Province House.

Organizers told the crowd there will be another demonstration next Saturday.