Protests Against "Casino" Markets Hit German Bourse

Protesters from the anti-establishment Attac movement entered the Frankfurt Stock Exchange on Monday, shouting slogans and waving banners denouncing financial markets.

The incident, which at one stage saw an Attac banner cover the stock exchange's big board displaying a graph of Germany's benchmark DAX index of blue-chip stocks, lasted a few minutes, a Reuters photographer on the scene said.

He put the number of protesters at about 15 and said three security guards escorted them from the building in the heart of Frankfurt's banking district.

Nobody was injured and no property damaged.

No one at stock exchange operator Deutsche Boerse was immediately available for comment and trading was not halted.

"Disarm the financial markets," read one Attac banner. "Put people and the environment above shareholder value."

A trader on the stock exchange floor said the protesters had time to throw around "thousands" of leaflets.

"The financial crisis is a symptom of a deeper rooted sickness: of an economic system that even when it is performing correctly subordinates all social goals to shareholder value and the profits of investors at the expense of jobs, social equality and environmental protection. It has to end. The casino should be closed," Attac said in a statement about the protest in which it said 25 activists had taken part.

Attac recently staged a protest outside the Frankfurt stock exchange demanding an end to "casino" capitalism.

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