Thousands of National Nurses United ( NNU ) activists and others called for a Robin Hood tax on Wall Street in a massive demonstration in Chicago. Said NNU co-President Karen Higgins, during the rally in Daley Plaza:

We are watching and seeing Wall Street throwing our money away as we see people suffer and die. It will not continue. We pay sales tax. It is time for Wall Street to start paying back what they owe the rest of the country and they need to pay sales tax.

The small financial tax on speculation by banks and financial institutions would create jobs and rebuild the economy that Wall Street broke. As NNU Executive Director RoseAnn DeMoro told reporters:

We want a financial transaction tax where we can restore our communities and jumpstart a new strategic approach to the economy invested in the people in this country. Worldwide, we're joined in movement with 40 countries that are already part of the Robin Hood movement and the Robin Hood tax and we're bringing it to America.

The rally coincided with this weekend’s G-8 Summit  of the eight top western economic powers, originally set for Chicago, and the NATO summit immediately following. But the G-8 moved to Camp David, Md., to avoid the large crowds of protesters.

Click here for more photos, including pictures of Tom Morello  and The Nightwatchman’s performance.

After the rally, actress and playwright Anna Deavere Smith performed, “Tell Us Where It Hurts, America’s Nurses Are Listening,”   a theatrical piece derived from real-life stories of nurses and their patients gathered by NNU.

“Tell me where it hurts? I'll tell you were it hurts," Smith said, her voice roaring from the stage. "It hurts when you see how privilege works...and when poor people die."

Read more from Chicago Tribune theater critic Chris Jones here and more coverage on the big rally here .