May Day Protests: Banks Receive Envelopes With ‘Suspicious’ White Powder

In advance of the unprecedented May Day demonstration on May 1, several banks in Manhattan received envelopes that contained a “suspicious” white powder, sending police in New York scrambling, and even causing five of Wells Fargo bank branches to shut down.

The powder was accompanied by a relatively threatening message: “This is a reminder that you are not in control,” the message read. “Just in case you needed some incentive to stop working we have a little surprise for you. Think fast you have seconds.”

Fortunately for the recipients of the suspicious envelopes, investigators ran tests on several samples of the white powder and determined that the substance was harmless–a police spokesperson said that in at least one case, the substance turned out to be corn starch.

Some are trying to tie the incident to the Occupy Wall Street movement, the group behind the upcoming May Day protests, but Ed Needham, a member of Occupy Wall Street’s New York media team, told Reuters that there wasn’t any connection. “It doesn’t sound like something that we would do,” he said.

Police suspect that the envelopes were intended to show up at banks in the New York area in time for the May Day protests, which kicks off later today, but the envelopes actually arrived a day early. “They underestimated the efficiency of the U.S. Postal Service,” an official told ABC News.

Will you be participating in the May Day protests?

[Image credit: Reuters/Lee Celano]