Arrests on Occupy Wall Street 'day of action'

http://www.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/int/news/-/news/world-us-canada-15784439

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Occupy Wall Street protesters are preparing for new demonstrations after about 100 people were arrested near the New York Stock Exchange in the morning.

A solidarity protest in Los Angeles saw 20 people arrested for sitting in a street as hundreds marched downtown.

City officials in Dallas evicted the protesters' camp there, arresting 18.

In New York, demonstrators plan to occupy 16 subway stations on Thursday afternoon and march from City Hall across the Brooklyn Bridge.

Most of the arrests in New York happened at a rally to mark two months of protest. City officials had expected "tens of thousands" of protesters throughout the day.

Police blocked streets and protesters massed at junctions on the edge of the city's financial district.

Scuffles broke out, with police dragging some protesters away.

It was tense at the corner of Wall Street and Broadway, with protesters shouting "shame" as police in riot gear arrested those they said were being disruptive. In the shadow of the New York Stock Exchange police erected barricades, keeping hundreds of protesters at bay. "Welcome to the police state," shouted demonstrators. "Get your corporate ID out."

The rush hour was disrupted, the streets around Wall Street full of those who had come to protest against corporate greed. "Pigs" they yelled as rows of NYPD officers moved protesters back.

Then as soon as the scuffles had begun they ended - now the protesters are back at Zuccotti Park, and later they will converge on subway stations and try to march over the Brooklyn Bridge. They want to prove the breaking up of their encampment hasn't ended their movement. The police don't want protesters to leave the bridge's pedestrian walkway, and there could be a clash in the offing.

Later on Thursday, protesters in San Francisco occupied a branch of Bank of America, holding signs including one that read: "Make Banks Pay".

A police department spokesman told Reuters that 95 demonstrators were arrested at the bank, most on suspicion of trespassing.

'Bad guys'

"You do not have a parade permit! You are blocking the street!" a police officer told protesters through a bullhorn during the morning's protests.

Some protesters were arrested after they sat down in an intersection, while others were arrested as they tried to get closer to the stock exchange.

"All day, all week, shut down Wall Street!" the crowd chanted.

Gene Williams, a bond trader, joked to the Associated Press that he was "one of the bad guys" but said he empathised with the demonstrators.

"They have a point in a lot of ways," he said. "The fact of the matter is, there is a schism between the rich and the poor and it's getting wider."

Lost camps

Thursday's demonstrations were before Tuesday's surprise pre-dawn raid of Zuccotti Park, where demonstrators had been camping.

Police allowed them to return but banned them from setting up camp again. Numbers dwindled to fewer than two dozen overnight.

Some of the 200 protesters detained during the eviction appeared in court on Wednesday.

A number of similar encampments have been removed in US cities in recent days.

Scores of arrests were made as police removed tents in Oakland, California and Burlington, Vermont.

But evictions went peacefully elsewhere, including Atlanta, Georgia; Portland, Oregon; and Salt Lake City, Utah.

Will you be taking part in the protests to mark the two-month anniversary of the Occupy Wall Street movement in New York? Please get in touch using the form below:

The most high profile protest has been Occupy Wall Street in New York, which began on 17 September. The protesters call themselves "the 99%" and are demanding major reforms of the global financial system by curbing the power of banks and corporations. Protests have also taken place in cities across the US, including Washington DC, Chicago, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Denver, Pittsburgh, Detroit, Houston and Boston. On 15 November, police moved in to clear the Occupy Wall Street protest, earlier they had cleared camps in Portland, Oregon and Oakland, California.

<h2 class="hd">Europe</h2>

A protest in Madrid's Sol Square began in May and turned into a week-long sit in. Renewed protests in Europe started on 15 October with demonstrations in Rome, Berlin, Frankfurt, Leipzig, Hamburg, Dublin, Bucharest, Zurich and other cities. Demonstrations were largely peaceful, but around 70 people were injured when violence broke out in Rome.

Protests at the London Stock Exchange in solidarity with Occupy Wall Street began on 15 October. After being denied access to Paternoster Square in front of the stock exchange, demonstrators organised a camp of around 150 tents outside St Paul's Cathedral. Protesters were told their camp could remain until the new year, on condition some tents blocking the "public highway" were removed. But the City of London Corporation said it was proceeding with legal action on 16 November, after talks with the protesters broke down.

<h2 class="hd">Canada</h2>

Demonstrations and protest camps began on 15 October in major cities, including Calgary, Halifax, Quebec, Toronto, Vancouver and Victoria. Police have cleared protesters from sites in Halifax and Ontario but campaigners at the biggest camp, in Toronto, have been allowed to remain.

<h2 class="hd">Australia</h2>

Protests began in Sydney and Melbourne on 15 October. Police forcibly removed around 100 demonstrators from the Melbourne camp on 21 October.