Anti-Wall Street protesters make a show at Rose Parade

By Hillel Aron

PASADENA, Calif (Reuters) - Hundreds of anti-Wall Street protesters sought to upstage the 123rd Tournament of Roses parade on Monday by marching in a "human float" that followed behind the official procession.

The demonstrators unfurled a 250-foot (76-metre) banner of the U.S. Constitution and also displayed an approximately 70-foot (21-metre) octopus made of recycled plastic grocery bags.

"Everything is not coming up roses," one protester's sign said. Another read: "This is what Democracy looks like."

The protesters' attempts to gain national attention were largely thwarted, however, by television networks, which gave little attention to their efforts.

Onlookers were allowed to walk along the parade route behind the official floats, so the protesters were joined by thousands of spectators and even a handful of counter-protesters, one of whom admonished the protesters to "get a job" on his megaphone.

The iconic Tournament of Roses parade, which was first held on New Year's Day in 1890, is broadcast on several U.S. television networks and in dozens of countries around the world.

Three activists who were seated along parade the route did manage to unfurl a banner that read "Stop Foreclosures" across from the television news cameras when a Wells Fargo-sponsored carriage passed by before police quickly took it down.

"We wanted to send a message to Wells Fargo and every other bank," said Joshua Taylor, one of the three protesters.

Some protesters who marched behind the parade were wearing tents in a nod to the movement's origins, which was launched in New York in September and quickly saw tent cities spring up in major cities across the country to protest against economic inequality, corporate excesses, high unemployment and bailouts of major banks.

Protesters have since embraced a range of other causes, and in some cities the demonstrations have also focused on grievances about excessive police use of force. (Writing by Mary Slosson; Editing by Greg McCune and Eric Beech)