A ragtag, but enthusiastic group of Occupy Wall Street protestors, one of them not even wearing shoes, set off from New York Wednesday on a two-week march to Washington, DC.
Monitored at every step by police, two dozen activists filed aboard a ferry leaving Manhattan to cross the River Hudson to New Jersey and begin their ambitious protest march.
The marchers hope to arrive in the capital by November 23 in time to protest the meeting of a congressional committee set to decide whether or not to extend tax cuts that the protestors claim help only the very rich.
Walking 20 miles a day, they plan to stop in a dozen cities and towns along the way, spreading OWS\' anti-capitalist message.
"The reason for going down to DC specifically is to make sure the billionaires get taxed," said Mae Fraser, 32, toting a rucksack and jostling through the thick lunch-hour crowds on her way to the ferry.
Occupy Wall Street sprang up in New York in September with an encampment in Zuccotti Park, near Wall Street. Since then, protests have spread to a dozen other US cities as mostly youthful activists seek to highlight what they say is gross inequality and unfairness in the US economy.
The walk grabbed plenty of media attention, with US network cameras crowding to catch the protestors\' departure.
Some of the protestors looked like they had more enthusiasm than experience. One man pulled a small suitcase on wheels and a young man set off without shoes, explaining that his feet hurt after an accident and he hadn\'t managed to find comfortable footwear.
"The shoes I made are kind of falling apart," Owen Johnson, 22, said.
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