2011-10-01 "400 arrested after protest on NY's Brooklyn Bridge" from "Associated Press"NEW YORK (AP) — New York City police say about 400 protesters were arrested after they swarmed the Brooklyn Bridge and shut down a lane of traffic for several hours.
Police say some demonstrators spilled onto the roadway Saturday night after being told to stay on the pedestrian pathway. They face disorderly conduct and other charges. The lane has since reopened.
Occupy Wall Street demonstrators are railing against corporate greed, global warming and social inequality, among other grievances.
The group has been camped near the Financial District for two weeks and clashed with police on earlier occasions.
Earlier Saturday, two other marches went over the bridge without problems. One was from Brooklyn to Manhattan by a group opposed to genetically modified food. Another in the opposite direction marched against poverty.
2011-10-01 "More than 500 arrested in Wall Street protest" by Ray Sanchez with editing by Philip Barbara, from "Reuters" newswire
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Police reopened the Brooklyn Bridge on Saturday evening after more than 500 anti-Wall Street protesters were arrested for blocking traffic lanes and attempting an unauthorized march across the span.
The arrests took place when a large group of marchers, participating in a second week of protests by the Occupy Wall Street movement, broke off from others on the bridge's pedestrian walkway and headed across the Brooklyn-bound lanes.
"More than 500 were arrested on the Brooklyn Bridge late this afternoon after multiple warnings by police were given to protesters to stay on the pedestrian walkway," a police spokesman said.
"Some complied and took the walkway without being arrested. Others locked arms and proceeded on the Brooklyn-bound vehicular roadway and were arrested," he added.
The bridge was reopened at 8:05 p.m. EDT after being closed for hours.
Witnesses described a chaotic scene on the famous suspension bridge as a sea of police officers surrounded the protesters using orange mesh netting.
Some protesters tried to get away as officers started handcuffing members of the group. Dozens of protesters were seen handcuffed and sitting on the span as three buses were called in to take them away, witnesses and organizers said.
The march started about 3:30 p.m. EDT from the protesters' camp in Zuccotti Park in downtown Manhattan near the former World Trade Center. Members of the group have vowed to stay at the park through the winter.
CELEBRITY SUPPORT -
In addition to what they view as excessive force and unfair treatment of minorities, including Muslims, the movement is also protesting against home foreclosures, high unemployment and the 2008 bailouts.
Filmmaker Michael Moore and actress Susan Sarandon have stopped by the protesters' camp, which is plastered with posters with anti-Wall Street slogans and has a kitchen and library, to offer their support.
On Friday evening, more than 1,000 demonstrators, including representatives of labor organizations, held a peaceful march to police headquarters a few blocks north of City Hall to protest what they said was a heavy-handed police response the previous week. No arrests were reported.
A week ago, police arrested about 80 members of Occupy Wall Street near the Union Square shopping district as the marchers swarmed onto oncoming traffic.
A police commander doused a handful of women with pepper spray in an incident captured on video and spread via the Internet, galvanizing the loosely organized protest movement.
The group has gained support among some union members. The United Federation of Teachers and the Transport Workers Union Local 100, which has 38,000 members, are among those pledging solidarity.
The unions could provide important organizational and financial support for the largely leaderless movement.
Similar protests are sprouting in other cities, including Boston, Chicago and San Francisco.
Police arrest demonstrators affiliated with the Occupy Wall Street movement after they attempted to cross the Brooklyn Bridge on the motorway, Saturday, Oct. 1, 2011 in New York. The highway is not intended for pedestrians, the marchers attempted to cross the bridge on the highway and were stopped on the middle of the bridge by police. (AP Photo/The Daily News, Anjali Mullany) NYC LOCALS OUT
A police officer with a bullhorn addresses a large group of protesters affiliated with the Occupy Wall Street movement who attempted to cross the Brooklyn Bridge, effectively shutting parts of the roadway down, Saturday, Oct. 1, 2011 in New York. Police arrested dozens while trying to clear the road and reopen for traffic.(AP Photo/Will Stevens)
Protesters react as police officers start to make arrests on the Brooklyn Bridge during an Occupy Wall Street protest in New York October 1, 2011. REUTERS/Jessica Rinaldi
Police officers reach into a crowd of protesters to make an arrest on the Brooklyn Bridge during an Occupy Wall Street march in New York October 1, 2011. REUTERS/Jessica Rinaldi
A police officer leans over to talk to a protester after hundreds were arrested during an Occupy Wall Street march on the Brooklyn Bridge in New York October 1, 2011. REUTERS/Jessica Rinaldi
2011-10-04 "Citing Police Trap, Protesters File Suit" by ELIZABETH A. HARRIS
[http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/05/nyregion/citing-police-trap-protesters-file-suit.html]
A group of people arrested on the Brooklyn Bridge as part of the Occupy Wall Street protests last week filed a suit against New York City on Tuesday, alleging that officers had violated their constitutional rights by luring them into a trap and then arresting them.
The lawsuit, filed in Federal District Court in Manhattan, says that protesters who marched to the Brooklyn Bridge on Saturday were led onto the bridge’s roadway by commanding police officers. Once protesters were on the bridge, the complaint says, officers prevented them from leaving. More than 700 people were arrested.
After the protesters were taken into custody, the police released videos showing an officer with a bullhorn warning protesters that they would be arrested if they did not get off the roadway. But those warnings “could not be heard mere feet away,” the suit says.
“We believe the N.Y.P.D. engaged in a premeditated, planned, scripted and calculated effort to get the protesters off the street,” said Mara Verheyden-Hilliard, executive director of the Partnership for Civil Justice Fund, which is representing the protesters.
The class-action lawsuit, which says such tactics have been ruled illegal in other cases, seeks to ban similar measures in the future. It also demands that the arrests be expunged and requests unspecified damages.
On Tuesday evening, the city’s Law Department said it had not been formally served with the suit, which also names Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg and Raymond W. Kelly, the police commissioner. The Police Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
“The police did exactly what they were supposed to do,” Mr. Bloomberg said on Sunday.
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