Powerful unions gave a high-profile boost to the long-running demonstrations, as their members joined the rally in lower Manhattan.

Students at several US colleges walked out of classes in solidarity.

The activists have vented grievances over the 2008 corporate bailouts, high US unemployment and home repossessions, among other things.

Hundreds of demonstrators were arrested last weekend on the Brooklyn Bridge.

On October 5, smaller protests were held from Boston and Chicago to Los Angeles and San Francisco.

The biggest event took place in New York, where at least 5,000 activists joined forces with members of unions and community organisations to march on Wall Street.

The American Federation of State County and Municipal Employees, Communications Workers of America and the Amalgamated Transit Union joined the New York march, as did the nation's largest union of nurses, National Nurses United.

The Occupy Wall Street protests started on 17 September with a few dozen demonstrators who tried to pitch tents in front of the New York Stock Exchange.