adminslowly getting into its backyard.
According to reports, when members of a loose protest movement known as Occupy Wall Street began a march from the Wall Street financial district to Union Square on Saturday, the participants seemed relatively harmless, even as they were breaking the law by marching in the street without a permit.
But to the New York Police Department, the protesters represented something else: a visible example of lawlessness akin to that which had resulted in destruction and violence at other anti-capitalist demonstrations, like the Group of 20 economic summit meeting in London in 2009 and the World Trade Organisation meeting in Seattle in 1999.
More than 700 of the protesters demonstrating against corporate greed, global warming and social inequality, among other grievances, were arrested after they swarmed the Brooklyn Bridge and shut down a lane of traffic for several hours in a tense confrontation with police.
Police used orange netting to stop the group from going farther down the bridge, which is under construction.
Some of the protesters said they were lured onto the roadway by police, or they didn’t hear the calls from authorities to head to the pedestrian walkway.
Police said no one was tricked into being arrested, and those in the back of the group who couldn’t hear were allowed to leave.
A police commander doused a handful of women with pepper spray in an incident captured on video and spread via the Internet, galvanising the protest movement.
The protest group has been camped in Zuccotti Park in Manhattan’s financial district for about two weeks, staging various marches.
The group’s organiser says they are improving infrastructure so they can stay there for months.
Mike Luciano from Pennsylvania says their objective is “taking the big cats down, bringing down Wall Street, changing how the government works and the dirty deals are done.”
Anywhere from hundreds to thousands of supporters are showing up for marches each day.
A week ago, police arrested about 80 members of Occupy Wall Street near the Union Square shopping district as the marchers swarmed onto on-coming traffic.
Occupy Wall Street has gained support among some union members.
The United Federation of Teachers and the Transport Workers Union are among those pledging solidarity.
The unions could provide important organisational and financial support for the largely leaderless movement.
Similar protests are sprouting in other cities, including Boston, Chicago and San Francisco.
Another major demonstration is set for mid-week as union members join protesters.
Last week, film maker Michael Moore and actress Susan Sarandon stopped by the protesters’ camp to offer their support.
In recent weeks, police commanders have been discussing the riots in London this summer, and strategising how they would stop a similar situation in New York, said Roy Richter, the president of the union in New
York that represents officers of captain and higher rank.
Since August, investigators with the NYPD and the Federal Bureau of Investigation have monitored online efforts of activists to bring demonstrations to Wall Street. – The Herald/AP/Reuters/cbsnews.com /NPR
Radio/New York Times.
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