Global anger

"The 'Indignants' would be even more indignant if only they understood that they, too, are to blame for this crisis," Poland's Rzeczpospolita commented. Poverty and unemployment don't result from the banks' greed, but from society's greed, the paper said: "Everyone wants the health system and schools to be free of charge, they want minimum wage and good retirement pay. But who is to foot the bill? Among others, the banks that lend the governments in Greece, Spain, Portugal, Ireland, Italy, France and Poland money so they can fulfill their citizens' wishes."

De Volkskrant from The Netherlands said the Occupy movement may be anything but homogenous, and may lack a clear unified message - but there is a common denominator that deserves to be taken seriously: "People are upset about the ongoing financial crisis and a disconcerting lack of a feeling of responsibility on the part of banks that were kept afloat with billions of euros but where management tosses about bonuses as if nothing had happened."

"People no longer want to accept that one percent of the population profits at their cost," Austria's Der Standard wrote. Politicians would be well-advised to heed the protesters and start a dialogue, the paper added, since politicians need the people's confidence to help overcome the crisis. "The protesters are not leftwing trouble makers but citizens, the paper cautioned - angry, rattled and concerned - but dedicated citizens."

Troublemakers marred a march against Wall Street greed in Rome on Saturday, however, and Italy's Corriere della Sera lamented that the 'Indignants' march there was infiltrated by rioters - "a minority that believes it can push a revolution with shattered windows, crushed ATMs and torched cars." The paper concluded that, like it or not, the unrest in Rome dashes the "illusion that a revolution can be peaceful."

Looking ahead at the G20 annual summit in Cannes, Germany's Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung said the worldwide protests would surely have an effect on international leaders. The pressure is on to regulate banks and discipline financial markets, the paper said. While banks should be under no illusion concerning their unpopularity, the paper said it hoped "politicians would not downplay their own share in the crisis: campaign pledges that could not be financed are at the bottom of the debt crisis."

Rheinische Post said that banks certainly carry part of the blame - but don't forget the politicians: "They spent money left and right to appease whining citizens."

It is understandable that people are venting their anger and fear, said Südwestpresse. Neither politicians nor bank managers did their homework in time, the German paper added: "For a long time, the state lived beyond its means and the major banks focused on barely transparent financial transactions, giving out substantial bonuses to its managers despite the crisis." Perhaps, the paper concluded, public pressure will force the state and the banks to learn more quickly and more effectively from their mistakes.

Compiled by Dagmar Breitenbach
Editor: Mark Hallam