'Occupy Wall Street': Protestors Descend on Lower Manhattan

As of noon, hundreds of protestors gathered at Bowling Green Park in Manhattan, home of the iconic charging bull in New York's Financial District as they prepare to take the bull by the horns, as one flyer said, ABC News reported.

The one thing we all have in common is that We Are The 99% that will no longer tolerate the greed and corruption of the 1%, said a statement on the Occupy Wall Street Web site.

Apparently the movement, which is an offshoot of online magazine AdBusters, is angered by what it calls the principle of profit over and above all else. This, they say, has dominated America's economic policies and the way in which Americans view culture and humanity.

Posts on the Web site compare the group's efforts to those used in pro-democracy movements across the Middle East, known as the Arab Spring.

On the 17th of September, we want to see 20,000 people to flood into lower Manhattan, set up beds, kitchens, peaceful barricades and occupy Wall Street for a few months, one statement read. Like our brothers and sisters in Egypt, Greece, Spain, and Iceland, we plan to use the revolutionary Arab Spring tactic of mass occupation to restore democracy in America. We also encourage the use of nonviolence to achieve our ends and maximize the safety of all participants.

Officers from the New York Police Department were on the seen at Bowling Green, but officials would not confirm any attendance numbers.

It's unclear exactly what the protestors will ask for in exchange for leaving Wall Street.

More than having any specific demand, per se, I think the purpose of Sept. 17, for many of us who are helping to organize it and people who are coming out, is to begin a conversation, as citizens, as people affected by this financial system in collapse, as to how we're going to fix it, as to what we're going to do in order to make it work for us again, said Justin Wedes, an event organizer.

The rally itself was first called for by Adbusters in July.