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PEACEFUL protestors occupied a city bank as part of a global day of action against corporate greed.

Around 200 people converged outside Barclays on Lord Street in solidarity with protests on Wall Street in New York and at financial hubs in London, Rome and Madrid.

Police said there were no arrests during the Occupy Liverpool protests, which ran for five hours on Saturday.

The group marched through the city centre with placards and banners attacking the banking crisis and public sector cuts, before a series of speeches were made outside the bank.

Around 20 protestors then staged a protest inside the bank.

Freelance writer and photographer Cliff James, 31, said: “The security guards were understaffed and they didn’t know what to do, so they closed the doors so that nobody but customers could get in.

“There were about 50 people outside who couldn’t get in and over the next few hours that grew to about 200.

“There was a carnival atmosphere and a megaphone was being passed around, so everyone could have their say.

“The Occupy message is that 99% of us are suffering from this crisis – from service cuts and job losses – while 1% are making vast amounts of money.

“We wanted to highlight the social injustice and people in Liverpool really bought into that.”

The protestors left at 3pm as rumours spread that the police were set to carry out a series of arrests in the bank.

One onlooker said: “There were quite a few police in the area, presumably in case anything kicked off.”

Thousands of Brits took part in campaigns in cities across the country.

Abroad, events in Rome turned violent as groups of masked demonstrators smashed windows, burned cars and threw rocks and firecrackers at banks and police in riot gear.

Merseyside police confirmed the Liverpool event passed peacefully. Barclays was unavailable for comment.