70 people have been injured in violent clashes between police and demonstrators in Rome and 24 people have been arrested in New York as people rally globally over economic austerity.
Demonstrators rallied across the world to accuse bankers and politicians of wrecking economies, but only in Rome did the global "day of rage" erupt into violence.
Galvanised by the Occupy Wall Street movement, the protests began in New Zealand, rippled east to Europe and were expected to return to their starting point in New York.
They coincided with the Group of 20 meeting in Paris, where finance ministers and central bankers from the major economies were holding crisis talks.
While most rallies were small and barely held up traffic, the Rome event drew tens of thousands of people and snaked through the city centre for kilometres.
Some protesters in masks and helmets set fire to cars, smashed the windows of stores and banks and trashed offices of the defence ministry. Police fired water cannon at demonstrators who were hurling rocks, bottles and fireworks.
Smoke bombs set off by the protesters cast a pall over a sea of red flags and banners bearing slogans attacking economic policies the protesters say are hurting the poor most. The violence sent many demonstrators running into hotels for safety.
Over 1,000 protest in Dublin
Over 1,000 people turned out to protest over austerity today in Dublin. An alliance of trade unionists, community groups, campaigns against cuts, and left wing groups marched from Parnell Square to the Merrion Hotel where the EU-IMF troika are staying during their visit.
One group who took part in the demonstration has said that the event is part of beginning a process of resistance to economic cuts, and will be a springboard for further protests in the run-up to the budget.
People Before Profit TD and spokesperson for the 'Enough' campaign protesting Richard Boyd Barrett, said austerity was causing immense suffering for ordinary people and was not working economically.
He said creating jobs, protecting the vulnerable, and putting money into the economy to create economic growth should be prioritised over protecting speculators and bondholders.
Protests in Asia
Small and peaceful rallies got the ball rolling across the Asia-Pacific region. In Auckland, New Zealand's biggest city, 3,000 people chanted and banged drums, denouncing corporate greed.
Hundreds marched in Tokyo, including anti-nuclear protesters. In Manila a few dozen marched on the US Embassy waving banners reading: "Down with US imperialism" and "Philippines not for sale".
Demonstrations in Europe
In London, several hundred people assembled outside London's St Paul's Cathedral for a protest dubbed "Occupy the London Stock Exchange". Several hundred people protested in Vienna, Sweden and Helsinki.
In Paris protests coincided with the G20 finance chiefs' meeting there. In the neighbourhood of Belleville, drummers, trumpeters and a tuba revved up a crowd of a few hundred that began to march to the city hall.
In Madrid, seven marches were planned to merge in Cibeles square and then head to the central Puerta de Sol
In Germany, where sympathy for southern Europe's debt troubles is not widespread, thousands gathered in Berlin, Hamburg, Leipzig and outside the ECB in Frankfurt, called by the Real Democracy Now movement.
Demonstrators gathered peacefully in Paradeplatz, the main square in the Swiss financial centre of Zurich.
