Demonstrators worldwide shouted their rage this weekend against bankers and politicians they accuse of ruining economies and condemning millions to hardship through greed and bad government.
Galvanised by the Occupy Wall Street movement, the protests began in New Zealand, rippled round the world to Europe and were expected to return to their starting point in New York.
Most rallies were however small and barely held up traffic. The biggest was in Rome, where an estimated 100,000 people took place in a march which soon turned violent.
The Rome protesters, including the unemployed, students and pensioners, planned to march through the centre, past the Colosseum and finish in Piazza San Giovanni.
Italian police fired teargas and water cannon to disperse some protesters who had set fire to cars, broke shop and bank windows and clashed with officers.
Witnesses said the violence was caused by several dozen hooded radicals known as "black blocs," who infiltrated the demonstration. At least one person was injured and taken to hospital.
In imitation of the occupation of Zuccotti Park near Wall Street in Manhattan, some protesters have been camped out across the street from the headquarters of the Bank of Italy for several days.
The worldwide protests were a response in part to calls by the New York demonstrators for more people to join them. Their example has prompted calls for similar occupations in dozens of US cities from today.
Demonstrators in Italy were united in their criticism of prime minister Silvio Berlusconi and angry at his victory in a vote of confidence in parliament yesterday.
The government has passed a €60 billion austerity package that has raised taxes and will make public health care more expensive.
Yesterday, students stormed Goldman Sachs's offices in Milan and daubed red graffiti. Others hurled eggs at the headquarters of UniCredit , Italy's biggest bank.
New Zealand and Australia got the ball rolling today. Several hundred people marched up the main street in Auckland, New Zealand's biggest city, joining a rally at which 3,000 chanted and banged drums, denouncing corporate greed.
About 200 gathered in the capital Wellington and 50 in a park in the earthquake-hit southern city of Christchurch.
In Sydney, about 2,000 people, including representatives of Aboriginal groups, communists and trade unionists, protested outside the central Reserve Bank of Australia.
"I think people want real democracy," said Nick Carson, a spokesman for OccupyMelbourne.Org, as about 1,000 gathered in the Australian city.
"They don't want corporate influence over their politicians. They want their politicians to be accountable."
Hundreds marched in Tokyo, including anti-nuclear protesters. In Manila, capital of the Philippines, a few dozen marched on the US embassy waving banners reading: "Down with US imperialism" and "Philippines not for sale".
More than 100 people gathered at the Taipei stock exchange, chanting "we are Taiwan's 99 per cent", and saying economic growth had only benefited companies while middle-class salaries barely covered soaring housing, education and healthcare costs.
They found support from a top businessman, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Corp (TSMC) chairman Morris Chang.
"I've been against the gap between rich and poor," Mr Chang said in the northern city of Hsinchu. "The wealth of the top one per cent has increased very fast in the past 20 or 30 years. 'Occupy Wall Street' is a reaction to that."
Demonstrators aimed to converge on the City of London under the banner "Occupy the Stock Exchange".
"We have people from all walks of life joining us every day," said Spyro, one of those behind a Facebook page in London which has drawn some 12,000 followers.
The 28-year-old, who said he had a well-paid job and did not want to give his full name, said the target of the protests as "the financial system".
Angry at taxpayer bailouts of banks since 2008 and at big bonuses still paid to some who work in them while unemployment blights the lives of many young Britons, he said: "People all over the world, we are saying: 'Enough is enough'."
Greek protesters called an anti-austerity rally today in Athens' Syntagma Square.
"What is happening in Greece now is the nightmare awaiting other countries in the future. Solidarity is the people's weapon," the Real Democracy group said in a statement calling on people to join the protest.
In Paris protests were expected to coincide with the G20 finance chiefs' meeting there. In Madrid, seven marches were planned to unite in Cibeles square and then march to the central Puerta de Sol.
In Germany, where sympathy for southern Europe's debt troubles is patchy, the financial centre of Frankfurt and the European Central Bank in particular wereare expected to be a focus of marches called by the Real Democracy Now movement.
