700 arrested after protest on Brooklyn Bridge

A large group of protesters affiliated with the Occupy Wall Street movement march across the Brooklyn Bridge, effectively shutting parts of it down, Oct. 1, 2011 in New York. Police arrested dozens while trying to clear the road and reopen for traffic. / AP Photo/Will Stevens

NEW YORK -New York City police say about 700 protesters have been 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 on 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.

"Corporations are not people," said Max Richmond in New York City. "They don't deserve the same rights people do."

Moira Laughlin, who traveled to New York from Ohio to participate, is frustrated because she's been out of work for two-and-a-half years. "We have two teenage kids, we still have to pay the mortgage. send them to college hopefully, and it's not easy."

Hundreds of people started camping and holding marches near New York's financial district. There have also been cries of police brutality, after video circulated online showing a high-ranking police official using pepper spray on several woman penned in by plastic mesh. The police said they were investigating.

90 Photos

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Critics say this leaderless resistance movement is unorganized, but protesters claim they don't need one focus.

"We don't have one central argument," said Jed Brandt of Brooklyn. "We have a lot, but the basic issue is our democratic structures are broken in this country."

And when a Congressman showed up - Rep. Charles Rangel, who told protesters, "We have to take our country back" - demonstrators made it clear government isn't working.

"You, sir, have no business being here - you're part of the problem," they retorted.

A supporter cheers from the pedestrian overpass as police arrest demonstrators affiliated with the Occupy Wall Street movement after they attempted to cross the Brooklyn Bridge on the motorway on October 1, 2011.

/ Mario Tama/Getty Images

The Occupy Wall Street protesters say they are encouraged by growing crowds in lower Manhattan, and the movement is spreading to cities around the country.

People rallied in Albuquerque, New Mexico ... and marched to City Hall in Los Angeles.

In Chicago, the crowd outside the Federal Reserve Bank began growing a week ago.

Protestors in New York say they just want their voices heard, and pledge to keep demonstrating through the winter, reports CBS News correspondent Kerry Ederer.

New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg has not said how long he'll let the protesters camp out in lower Manhattan.

Several unions are planning to join protesters in Manhattan for a march next week.

For more info:

• occupywallst.org
• 99 Percent Project

[lami987]

New York city has plenty of money to pay cops assigned to Wall Street protest but not for anything else. You can see cops all over the place. In some cases there were more cops than protesters. Some of those cops appeared to have been trained in Syria. No doubt city government using public fund is doing a great favor for Wall street. Hoping for pay back privately?

[NotWaff]

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KARL MARX

WOULD

BE

PROUD

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[DaraYa2Think]

End the FED!!!

Obama is PART of Wall Street! LOOK AT HIS TOP campaign contributors (BofA, Wells Fargo, CitiBank, Chase) Obama, Romney, Perry, Cain - they are ALL THE SAME - bought and paid for! END the FED!

[DaraYa2Think]

End the Fed!! End the printing machine. UNDERSTAND how Wall Street and the politicians steal your wealth - END THE FED!

[NadePaulKuciGravMcKi]

Occupy Wall Street Special Live Broadcast
Sunday, 2 PM Central, InfoWars streaming

[rpgormley]

They are all communists and Marxists. The police should have arrested them all.

[antoniof123]

Ahhhh this reminds me of the 60's I hope the kids carry continue to march we need a revolution in this country haven't had one if a long time.

[impactors]

I agree with some of their goals. And I'm sure millions of Americans do also. It's no secret that the powers to be are taken care of at the expense of America, and the average American. These individuals include Wall Street Executives. Corporate CEO's, Bank of America. And let's not leave out the people we elect to represent us, """BUT DO NOT""". How about General Motors. These people run this nation, or should I say, have sucked the life blood out of it and run it into the ground? For years now this nation's most important export has been our jobs and along with it, our way of life. Years ago, I sent an email to the Democratic party headquarters. I complained that NAFTA was taking jobs away from Americans. Their reply was that after intensive study. They found that NAFTA did not take away ANY American jobs. Both mainstream parties said the same thing about the exporting of our jobs and all the treaties they signed. Treaties that have made China what it is today, and America what it is right now. Insatiable corporate greed, coupled with out of this world political corruption has destroyed this nation. There's no doubt in my mind that it was a well laid plan. And those responsible will not stop until they have succeeded. I've been saying it for years, and I'll say it again. Although for entirely different reasons. Both the Democratic and Republican parties have the same end game in mind. The Dems seek total control of the masses, socialism. The Repubs, in order to make possible the maximum amount of corporate profit possible. And to increase the economical divide bewteen the middle class and the upper, upper class of American ssociety. If they can destroy the middle class along the way, so much the better. If I'm wrong, why has our nation been headed in the very same direction under both the Republicans and the Democrats??? Vote third party, and vote for the candidate who isn't a career politician. Vote for the person who's appears to have your beliefs. Vote for the individual who has the least amount of corporate financial supporters. He or she has the least number of favors to repay.

[berlinfoto-2009]

Homeless? hungry? Just let good old Uncle Sam place this RFID Implantable Microchip under your skin, and good old Uncle Sam will see that you are never Homeless or hungry again.

[nuttyworld]

And Obama, Pelosi, Reed, Waters, etc. call the Tea Party terrorists.

[p_syrus]

All the most credible reports indicate that the n.y. city police used entrapment to lure the protesters onto the roadway prior to making the arrests. Also, JPMorgan has donated funding to the city to in order to obstruct the protests. More clear indications of the corruption of the political process in the united states by the monied interests.

The republicans grumble about progressives renewal of 'class warfare', but the truth is that Class Warfare has been their primary game plan ever since legislation was first introduced to allow the extension of civil liberties comparable to that of u.s. citizens to corporations, corporations being nothing but legal tools used to magnify and focus the political & financial influence of the wealthy.

It is long past time that the permissive attitude towards corporations created by legislative bodies be rescinded. Corporations must not be allowed civil rights equivalent to a u.s. citizen.

End the Class War Against Working People which has been the national policy of the republican party for over 100 years.

[SiaraDelyn]

Most of the protesters were walking on the sidewalk. A few of them ended up in the street (walking beside friends they were talking to). The police used this fact to arrest 500 people.

[jms133]

When they did that,they gave corporations the ability to direct nearly unlimited funds to the candidates of their choice,be they Democrat or Republican.