In pictures: Protesters occupy Dame Street

THE INTERNATIONAL ‘OCCUPY Wall Street’ protests arrived in Ireland today, with activists gathering in Dublin to mount a “leaderless resistance” against political and financial elites.

Upwards of a hundred protesters massed outside the Central Bank for the Occupy Dame Street event, which saw demonstrators bang pots and pans and hold placards calling for change.

In a statement earlier this week, organisers promised to use “tactics of non-violence and civil disobedience”, citing the Arab Spring as inspiration.

The statement listed four demands: that the IMF and ECB “stay out of our affairs”; that the bank debt taken on by Ireland’s government be lifted; that offshore oil and gas reserves be “returned to the people”, and that “real participatory democracy” be established in Ireland.

The Dublin event comes after weeks of protests in New York, where a fully-fledged camp has sprung up as primarily young people demonstrate their anger against financial wrongdoing and perceived political cronyism.

Last week, New York police arrested more than 700 people as the protest spread to the city’s Brooklyn Bridge.

Slideshow: Pictures from Occupy Dame Street