Wednesday, March 21, 2012

New York: ‘Occupy’ Protesters, and Arrests, Come to Union Square

(WSJ) Occupy Wall Street’s six-month turnout at Zuccotti Park this weekend met a swift response from police, with dozens of arrests. Three days later, the protesters tried a new Manhattan rallying point: Union Square.

The new venue produced similar results. Six people were arrested for disorderly conduct and other charges early Wednesday morning in front of Union Square Park, a law enforcement official said. The barricades that have become a common sight in the Financial District made an appearance a couple miles uptown.

Anthony Melendez, a 36-year-old protester, was in a crowd of about 100 people just before 4 a.m. when police ordered the park’s street entrance to be cleared. “They were using metal barricades as a battering ram,” he said.

Melendez said he saw a woman was knocked unconscious by a police officer and taken away in an ambulance. A New York Police Department spokesman said one woman was injured when she tripped and fell. Two police officers were also injured, according to the NYPD spokesman.

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