Protesters flood Wall Street over global climate change

NEW YORK -- One day after a huge climate march in New York City, activists on Monday are flooding Wall Street to protest what they say is corporate and economic institutions' role in the climate crisis.

#FloodWallStreet protesters, dressed in blue, rallied in Battery Park earlier Monday and are now marching to the financial district in Lower Manhattan, CBS New York reported.

There are around 1,000 protesters, CBS 2's Jim Smith reported. Much of the traffic around Broadway and Bowling Green has been stopped due to the demonstration, and a staged sit-in is planned for the stock exchange area, Smith reported.

Police were heading protesters in one direction uptown from Battery Park. They were supposed to be heading to the New York Stock Exchange, but instead of going up one of the northern streets they decided to make a left and go up Broadway, Juliet Papa of CBS radio station 1010 WINS reported.

Police cordoned off Bowling Green Park, so the protests are in and around the area of the Charging Bull and they have not gotten to Wall Street yet, Papa reported.

Organizers said in a press release that the sit-in aimed to disrupt business in the financial district by targeting "corporate polluters and those profiting from the fossil fuel industry."

"Two years ago, Superstorm Sandy literally flooded New York's financial district but it didn't faze Wall Street and their drive for the short term profits that flow from the cooking of the planet," Klein said in a statement. "Which is why we're going to flood them again."

Dressed in a green wig and superhero outfit, protester Jenna DeBoisblanc, an environmental activist from New Orleans, Louisiana, said at a rally in a park near Wall Street before the protest that those assembled were expecting arrests at the sit-in.

"I think arrests in particular are a very good way of conveying the gravity of an issue," she said. "If you're willing to risk arrest it certainly demonstrates that it's something very urgent."

On Sunday, tens of thousands of activists participated in the People's Climate March through Manhattan warning that climate change is destroying the Earth.

Organizers said more than 100,000 participated, including actors Mark Ruffalo and Evangeline Lilly.

It was one of many demonstrations around the world urging policymakers to take quick action.