Police clash with "Occupy Melbourne" protesters Saturday, October 21, 2011 in Melbourne, Australia. Riot police, acting on a Melbourne City Council eviction order, attempted to break up the crowd of hundreds that had been positioned in City Square for a week. (Mark Dadswell/Getty Images)
(CBS/AP)
Last Updated 2:17 p.m. ET
MELBOURNE, Australia - Riot police in Australia's second-largest city broke up a demonstration linked to the "Occupy Wall Street" movement Friday, after a group of around 100 people protesting corporate greed defied an order to vacate a plaza.
Around 20 people, including two police officers, suffered minor injuries in the scuffle, Victoria state Police Assistant Commissioner Stephen Fontana said. Several demonstrators screamed and cried as police dragged and carried them away from the city square, where protesters had been camped out for nearly a week.
The Daily Telegraph reports more than 50 members of the "Occupy Melbourne" movement were arrested; Australia's ABC Network reports about 100 arrests.
On Saturday several hundred protesters marched peacefully through the city from Federation Square to Trades Hall, followed by a large police contingent.
The so-called "Occupy" movement began last month in New York, where people frustrated with America's stubbornly limp economy have been camped out on Wall Street to protest corporate greed and social inequality. Since then, thousands of people have joined similar protests across the globe, including several cities in Australia. Most of the protests have been peaceful — with the exception of a rally in Rome that turned violent last week when protesters smashed bank windows, hurled bottles and set cars on fire.
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