Occupy Wall Street: Nashville protesters arrested

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Twenty-nine anti-Wall Street protesters have been arrested in Nashville, Tennessee, where protesters have been encamped for the past three weeks.

The arrests were made after a new law was enacted preventing camping overnight near the state Capitol.

Police throughout the US have been increasing pressure on activists protesting against perceived economic inequality and corporate greed.

Earlier this week, a man was seriously injured in Oakland after clashes.

On Thursday evening a crowd of around 1,000 people held a vigil in the Californian city for the injured man, Scott Olsen, who is still in hospital with a fractured skull.

The former marine has become something of a figurehead for Occupy Wall Street demonstrators across the US.

Twitter users and protest websites have come out in solidarity, insisting: "We are all Scott Olsen".

State troopers

In Nashville, protesters said police surrounded Legislative Plaza and made the arrests in the early hours of Friday morning.

One of the protesters, Katy Savage, told the Associated Press that police took - and in some cases dragged - protesters to waiting buses as the group sat and sang "We Shall Overcome".

A police statement said around two dozen protesters left the area without incident, but those who refused to leave were arrested.

Around 75 state troopers were used for the operation.

The arrested protesters were released with citations for criminal trespassing and will appear in court on 18 November.

The arrests in Nashville follow 50 in Atlanta on Tuesday. Oakland's police department confirmed there were 102 arrests in the city on Tuesday, amid clashes between police and protesters.

Occupy protests have spread to cities across the US, on the East Coast where the movement began, and at many points further west.

The message has also caught the imagination of people in Europe, with similar protests in cities overseas including London, Rome and Berlin.