Protesters arrested in anti-Wall Street rally

25/09/2011| IslamWeb

The New York police say at least eighty protesters have been arrested in a march as several hundred protesters marched through the streets of lower Manhattan.

Saturday's protests were part of a series of demonstrations in the past week against against bank bailouts, the mortgage crisis and the US state of Georgia's execution of Troy Davis.

 

The marchers carried signs spelling out their goals: "Tax the rich," one placard said, "We want money for healthcare not corporate welfare," read another.

 

The demonstrators were mostly students carrying American flags and signs with anti-corporate slogans.

 

Some beat drums, blew horns and chanted slogans as uniformed officers surrounded and videotaped them.

 

The New York police took precautionary measures with metal barricades and swarms of police officers in front of the New York Stock Exchange, the closest protesters could get was Liberty Street, about three blocks away.

 

At Manhattan's Union Square, police tried to corral the demonstrators using orange plastic netting.

 

Patrick Bruner, a protest spokesman, told the AP news agency the police response was "exceedingly violent" and said the protesters sought to remain peaceful.

 

Participants had hoped for a bigger turnout at the rally. "It was kind of disappointed with the turnout," according to Itamar Lilienthal, 19, a New York University student and marcher.

 

 

 

PHOTO CAPTION

Police take a participant, center, from a march organized by Occupy Wall Street after handcuffing him Saturday Sept. 24, 2011 in New York.

 

Al Jazeera