Reuters reports that about 60 protesters opposed to the U.S. Federal Reserve's help in bailing out Bear Stearns (BSC.N) entered the lobby of the investment bank's Manhattan headquarters on Wednesday, demanding assistance for struggling homeowners.
Demonstrators organized by the Neighborhood Assistance Corporation of America chanted "Help Main Street, not Wall Street" and entered the lobby without an invitation for around half an hour before being escorted out by police.
"There are no provisions for homeowners in this deal. There are people out there struggling who need help," said Detria Austin, an organizer at NACA, an advocacy group for home ownership.
This on the heels of a report that there is a 13 year low in sales as new home sales fell in February for the fourth straight month. While the rate of decline has slowed, the worst slump in more than two decades has not runs its course, analysts said.
The 1.8 percent drop sent the annual sales rate down to 590,000 units in February, the Commerce Department reported Wednesday. That was the slowest pace since February 1994 and down 57.5 percent from the sales peak of 1.389 million units in July 2005.
Bear Stearns employees were alternatively amused and perplexed, taking pictures on their cell phones.
"Homeowners, that's more than $1 trillion (in mortgage debt), you're crazy," one man in a suit screamed at a protester on the street.
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