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Occupy Wall Street Protest Ends with Dozens of Arrests to Prevent Campin in New York Zuccotti Park

Occupy protest anniversary ends with arrests

The Occupy movement marked its six-month anniversary with demonstrations and marches in lower Manhattan, but police moved in and arrested dozens when protesters tried to set up camp in Zuccotti Park.

By News Wires (text)

France 24, March 18, 2012

AP -

Protesters chanted and cheered down Wall Street to mark six months of the Occupy movement, ending the day with a police confrontation and numerous arrests at the park where the nationwide demonstrations against economic inequality began.

Some protesters locked arms and sat down in Zuccotti Park after police announced just before midnight that the park was closed. Officers poured in, forcing out most of the crowd and surrounding a small group that stayed behind.

Several people were arrested, police said. A bus carried away about a dozen demonstrators in plastic handcuffs.

New York Police Det. Brian Sessa said the tipping point came when the protesters started breaking the park rules.

“They set up tents. They had sleeping bags,” he said.

One female under arrest had difficulty breathing and was taken away in an ambulance.

Hours earlier, hundreds of protesters marched through lower Manhattan.

Documentary filmmaker Michael Moore made an appearance.

Steps from the New York Stock Exchange, they danced and chanted, “We are unstoppable.”

The Occupy movement has had a far lower profile in the months since authorities in many U.S. cities closed down the protest camps scattered in downtown parks and plazas. The Zuccotti Park encampment was shut down in November.

Stacy Hessler held up a cardboard sign that read, “Spring is coming,” a reference, she said, both to the Arab Spring demonstrations that rocked the Middle East last year and to the warm weather that is returning to New York. She said she believes the nicer weather will bring crowds back to Occupy protests.

Some have questioned whether the group can regain its momentum. This month, the finance accounting group in New York reported that just about $119,000 remained in Occupy’s bank account - the equivalent of about two weeks’ worth of expenses.

But Hessler said the group has remained strong, and she said she was satisfied with what Occupy protesters have accomplished.

“It’s changed the language,” she said. “It’s brought out a lot of issues that people are talking about. ... And that’s the start of change.”

As always, the protesters focused on a variety of concerns, but for Tom Hagan, his sights were on the giants of finance.

“Everyone from the banks to the rating agencies, they all knew they were doing wrong. ... But they did it anyway. Because the money was too big,” Hagan said.

Background

Occupy Wall Street protesters clash with police

New York police clashed with Occupy protesters Thursday, arresting at least 100 people after hundreds turned out for a Wall Street march to mark the two-month anniversary of the movement.

By Jade BARKER (video) News Wires (text)

France 24, November 18, 2011

REUTERS -

New York police prevented protesters from shutting down Wall Street on Thursday, arresting more than 200 people in repeated clashes with an unexpectedly small but spirited Occupy Wall Street rally.

Protesters took to the streets in rainy New York and cities across the United States for a day of action seen as a test of the momentum of the two-month-old grass-roots movement against economic inequality.

Organizers and city officials had expected tens of thousands to turn out for a demonstration following the New York police raid that broke up the protesters’ encampment in a park near Wall Street on Tuesday.

A crowd that disappointed organizers throughout the day grew to several thousand after the standard workday ended and labor union activists joined a march across the Brooklyn Bridge, where last month more than 700 people were arrested during a similar march.

“We certainly want to see more people mobilize and show up,” said Occupy Wall Street spokesman Jeff Smith, who nevertheless said there was “a fantastic turnout.”

After tempers among police and protesters flared throughout the day, crowds grew larger and more festive after dark.

“This is a great night for a revolution. I’ve never seen anything like this in my entire life,” said Daniel Reynolds, 34, a financial analyst at a venture capital firm, who joined the protests for the first time on Thursday.

Many protesters complained of police brutality, pointing to one media image of man whose face was bloodied during his arrest and another of a woman who was dragged across the sidewalk by an officer.

Police reported seven officers were injured, including one whose hand was cut by a flying piece of glass and five who were hit in the face by a liquid believed to be vinegar.

Police barricaded the narrow streets around Wall Street, home to the New York Stock Exchange, and used batons to push protesters onto the sidewalk as they marched through the area to try to prevent financial workers getting to their desks.

Workers were allowed past barricades with identification and the New York Stock Exchange opened on time and operated normally.

Protesters banged drums and yelled, “We are the 99 percent,” referring to their contention that the U.S. political system benefits only the richest 1 percent.

At the Union Square subway stop, one of the busiest in the city, protesters tried to crowd the entrance but police repeatedly moved them against the walls to make way for subway riders.

Protests across U.S.

Demonstrators targeted bridges they considered in disrepair in cities such as Miami, Detroit and Boston to highlight what they said was the need for government spending on infrastructure projects to create jobs.

In St. Louis, more than 1,000 protesters marched through downtown in support of the Occupy St. Louis movement that was evicted last week from its campsite near the Gateway Arch. The Thursday march was by far the largest since Occupy St. Louis began in support of the New York demonstrators.

In Los Angeles, hundreds of anti-Wall Street demonstrators marched through the financial district, blocking a downtown street to snarl morning rush-hour traffic, and briefly pitched tents outside a Bank of America office tower. Nearly 80 protesters were arrested in the city.

At least 300 people gathered at Chicago’s Thompson Center, giving speeches in English and Spanish. The protest was focused on jobs with signs reading: “We need jobs, not cuts” and “Jobs, schools, equality: end the wars.”

The Washington, D.C., gathering was smaller than hoped for by organizers. One protester in McPherson Square said he expected about 1,000 people, while perhaps 200 showed up, with many leaving within the hour.

About 100 marched through downtown Denver, chanting slogans and calling for the recall of Mayor Michael Hancock for his decision to have police remove illegally pitched tents and other items from the Occupy Denver campsite last weekend.

In Dallas, more than a dozen people were arrested when police shut down their six-week-old camp near City Hall.

Hundreds of Occupy demonstrators in Portland, Oregon, gathered on a major bridge and later massed in front of a Chase bank branch downtown. Police arrested at least 30 people.

About 600 protesters in Seattle converged in an early evening “Jobs Not Cuts” rally on a bridge spanning near the University of Washington, causing a 2-mile (3-km) traffic backup during the city’s raining rush hour.

Police in Las Vegas arrested 21 protesters who sat down in the street outside a federal courthouse after they ignored warnings to leave.

Before dawn on Thursday, police cleared away a protest camp from a plaza at the University of California, Berkeley, where 5,000 people had gathered on Tuesday night.

Protesters say they are upset that billions of dollars in bailouts given to banks during the recession allowed a return to huge profits while average Americans have had no relief from high unemployment and a struggling economy.

They also say the richest 1 percent of Americans do not pay their fair share of taxes.