Occupy Toronto protesters clog downtown

Occupy Toronto protesters clogged the city's busydowntown core during the rush hour, stagingsit-ins that snarled traffic and transit.

Just after 6:30 p.m.,agroup of about 100 people accompanied by police started moving easton Dundas Street toward St. James Park, where they had set up a makeshift camp on Saturday.

The crowdstaged a sit-in at the intersection of Yonge andDundasstreets for about an hour.Protesters arranged themselves so they spelled out "99%" when viewed from above.

The 99 per cent figure is a reference toone of the keysymbols of similar protests that have popped up worldwide. Protesters claim the richest one per cent are benefiting at the expense of the other 99 per cent.

The protesters parted to let TTC streetcars on Dundas through, but otherwise blocked vehicular traffic.

Earlier, they briefly blocked traffic at Bay and King streets, before heading east on Queen Street and up Yonge Streettoward Dundas Square. They reachedthe intersection of Yonge and Dundas just after 5:30 p.m. and began their sit-in.

Two protests were held earlier Monday a small gathering in the city's financial district in the morning and a march from the protesters' camp to Ryerson University in the afternoon.

During the morning march into the city's financial district, one protester held a sign that said "Everybody Deserves Their Fair Share." Another protester's sign said "Mother Earth Lives, Capitalism Dies."

Eddie Tilley was among those who gathered outside the TSX during the morning protest. He told CBC News he was protesting a growing economic inequality in Canada.

"The middle class are being squeezed down to where I'm at," he said. "Im on the bottom rung of life. I'm a poor man. I live off of ODSP [Ontario Disability Support Program] and I pay everything that they give me in rent, so the next stop for me is the garbage bin."

Also on Monday, a group of about 100 demonstrators marched from St. James Park to Ryerson University. They gathered at Ryerson as part of the university's social justice week.

Protesters had camped out overnight in about 50 or 60 tents that have been erected in St.JamesPark located at the corner of King Street East and Church Street.

TheCanadian Occupy groups taketheir inspiration from the Occupy Wall Street movement, which has beenstaging protests in New York formore than a month.The movement is driven by a handful of different issues, including addressing corporate greed andeconomic disparity.

The protestsare the latest in a series of demonstrationsthat have spread to more than 80 countries.