Hundreds arrested at 'Occupy' events in Chicago, Denver, Arizona, as movement spreads across U.S.
Philip Caulfield - Daily News Staff Writer
Shortly after 1 a.m. in Chicago, police arrested some 175 protesters who had set up a makeshift tent city and formed a human chain in Congress Plaza by Grant Park, according to a report in the Chicago Tribune.
The arrests were mostly peaceful, the report said, although police did face chants of "Shame on you!" and "This is what democracy looks like!" from some of the estimated 500 protesters in the crowd, many of whom were sitting on the ground with their arms interlocked.
The arrests continued until about 3:30 a.m., as police tore down dozens of tents and threw left-behind homemade signs in the garbage, according the Tribune.
"I'd like to ask why [New York Mayor Michael] Bloomberg let the people stay in the park peacefully and clean up their own mess, and Rahm Emanuel won't let us do the same," demonstrator Joseph Eichler, 23, told the Tribune.
The arrested demonstrators were released from custody mid-morning Sunday and greeted by cheering crowds outside a police station in downtown Chicago, the Tribune reported.
They were charged with misdemeanor ordinance violations.
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Some 2,000 people had marched on Grant Park on Saturday afternoon.
Shortly before midnight, police warned the crowd they were violating city code by camping out in the park, which closes at 11 p.m.
Some 2,000 people gathered for an Occupy Denver march on Saturday to voice their anger at corporate greed. The march was mostly peaceful, but 24 people were arrested after clashes with police on Saturday evening. (Kathryn Scott Osler/AP)
In Phoenix, Ariz., some 40 anti-Wall St. demonstrators were arrested around midnight after refusing to clear out of Margaret T. Hance Park, just north of downtown, according to local reports.
Around 1,000 people had gathered for an Occupy Phoenix rally on Saturday afternoon, but their numbers dwindled significantly by the time around 100 local cops started hauling demonstrators away that night.
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As in Chicago, the arrests in Phoenix were said to be peaceful, although some witnesses said the helmeted, baton-wielding police roughed up a few demonstrators.
There were also reports of arrests during a late-night demonstration in Tucson, about 100 miles south of Phoenix, though it was unclear how many people were busted there.
The situation went from peaceful to tense in downtown Denver on Saturday, when clashes between police and protesters resulted in 24 arrests, The Denver Post reported.
A march of about 2,000 people through that city had mostly ended by 2 p.m., but a small group of protesters remained and pitched large tents in Civic Center, near the state capitol building, the Post reported.
Cops in riot gear knocked down the tents and used pepper spray to break up the crowd, the Post said.
In Raleigh, N.C., 19 people were arrested at around 7:30 p.m. after their permit to demonstrate on the grounds of the state capitol expired, local station WRAL reported.
About 75 people had obeyed police orders to clear the capitol grounds and continued their demonstration across the street, the station said.
But the 19 who were arrested had stayed behind and locked arms. They were cited for trespassing.
With News Wire Services