Over 10,000 protest the banks' power in Germany - Nov. 12, 2011

Over 10,000 protest the banks’ power in Germany

Published Nov. 12, 2011 at 4:25 pm

Outgoing European Central Bank (ECB) President Jean-Claude Trichet , right, talks to German Chancellor Angela Merkel prior to a farewell ceremony for Trichet at the old opera house in Frankfurt, Wednesday Oct. 19, 2011. The final year of Trichet's presidency of the ECB has been marked by controversy over a decision to buy the bonds of troubled euro zone countries, which critics say oversteps the mandate of the central bank and has led to the resignation of two of its most experienced German policymakers.

Photo by (AP Photo/Kai Pfaffenbach,Pool)

BERLIN (AP) — German police say more than ten thousand people are protesting against the banks' dominance in two of the country's major cities.

Police in Frankfurt, continental Europe’s financial hub, say some 9,000 people are peacefully protesting near the European Central Bank’s office tower in the city centre.

Police in Berlin say demonstrators are forming a human chain surrounding parts of the capital’s government district to call for an end to excesses of financial speculation and urge the government to dismantle big banks.

Berlin police said "several thousand" people took to the streets Saturday, but organizers of the protest — which is inspired by New York’s Occupy Wall Street movement — said turnout was about 8,000 in Berlin and 10,000 in Frankfurt.