Protesters Lash Out At Bailout Plan

As Democratic and Republican leaders hashed out a compromise to the Bush administration's proposed $700 billion bailout of struggling banks, Americans took to the streets.

In Denver, several dozen protesters gathered Friday on the steps of the state Capitol to oppose the proposed federal bailout of the financial industry.

The protesters shouted "Jail them, not bail them," and "Main Street, not Wall Street."

Protesters included members of the Colorado Green Party, union workers and the Rocky Mountain Peace and Justice Center.

Center spokeswoman Carolyn Bninski told the small but vocal crowd that greedy bankers and investors were responsible for the current crisis. She said taxpayers shouldn't bail them out.

Also yesterday in Washington, demonstrators with signs picketed outside the U.S. Treasury Department.

Rainbow PUSH coalition founder Jesse Jackson, who headlined the Washington demonstration against the financial bailout, urged a hold on further foreclosures and allowances for people to restructure their mortgage deals.

And in New York, a demonstration sponsored by the group Bail Out People Before Bankers was held in Times Square on Saturday.

This followed Thursday's massive demonstration where thousands descended on Wall Street to oppose the administration's proposal to spend up to $700 billion of taxpayers' money to relieve banks of their bad debt.

Other demonstrations of opposition to the plan - some spontaneous, others quickly organized over the Internet - have been sighted in Akron, Ohio; San Francisco; Austin, Tex.; Chicago; Green Bay, Wis.; Portland, Ore.; Newark, N.J.; Ventura, Calif.; and Greenville, S.C.