New York: Clashes and arrests in Zuccotti Park
as 'Occupy' activists mark six months since birth of
anti-corporate greed movement.
Police and activists have clashed at a park in New York where
hundreds of people had gathered to mark six months since the
beginning of the city's Occupy Wall Street protests.
The clashes, late on Saturday, came as some activists attempted to
re-occupy Zuccotti Park, which police had earlier declared closed
for the evening.
The Manhattan park, close to Wall Street, was where the
anti-corporate greed protest movement began in September last
year. Activists spent months camping at the site, prompting
similar demonstrations in other US cities and abroad.
Police began making arrests after several hundred protesters had
remained there, with some erecting a makeshift tent of cardboard
and tarpaulin in contravention of rules banning shelters in the
park.
More than 100 police officers pushed through the park, clashing
with protesters who attempted to stand their ground, The
Associated Press news agency reported.
The Reuters news agency reported that dozens of protesters had
been led away in handcuffs, although there has been no official
word on the number of arrests.
Earlier in the day, hundreds of protesters had marched on nearby
Wall Street, resulting in another unspecified number of arrests,
police said.
Organisers vowed that Saturday's rally was the first of several
events planned to protest against perceived economic injustice.
'We are going to take it back'
One of the activists taking part in the gathering said he hoped
the park would again become a home for protesters, in defiance of
a police ban on sleeping there which led to the eviction of the
protest camp's occupants after two months.
They're hoping we'll all go away because it's cold," said Rob, 28,
declining to give his last name. "The park's become the symbol
both for us and for them. We are going to take it back."
Protester Paul Sylvester, 24, of Massachusetts said he was
"thrilled" to be back at the park but said he hoped the movement
would begin to crystallise around specific goals. "We need to be
more concrete and specific," he said.
Critics say the Occupy movement lacks demands and direction and
has lost momentum.
But warmer spring weather in the US has brought expectations that
Occupy leaders will try to regain their momentum.
Protesters seemed invigorated by their relatively large numbers
compared to the small turnouts during street demonstrations over
the winter.
At the park on Saturday, street theatre troupes performed and
guitar players led sing-alongs. Some protesters marched through
the streets of the financial district, chanting "bankers are
gangsters" and cursing at police.
Liesbeth Rapp, 27, who was performing street theatre about
economic injustice, said protesters were ready to make some
changes.
"I think we've learned a lot about being strategically and
tactically smarter," she said. "We're learning to decentralise,
and to work in smaller groups."
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