500 arrested after swarming NYC’s Brooklyn Bridge

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 in New York City.

Mario Tama/GETTY IMAGES

Colleen Long Associated Press

 

NEW YORK, N.Y. — New York City police say about 500 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.