06-10-2011, 08:19 AM
1.00pm: Another big day for the Occupy Wall Street protesters is drawing to a close. Thousands of protesters with conservative estimates putting the number at around 15,000 marched through Lower Manhattan, bringing the area to a halt. Numbers were swelled by support from unions and students. The mood was largely festive, but tension built up when the march pushed down Broadway towards Wall Street.
Questions are once again being asked about police tactics video footage shows officers beating some protesters with batons. Despite the march having a permit, and the roads being closed, police funnelled protesters onto the sidewarks and into tightly-penned areas. This appears to have led to the frustration: police say they made about 12 arrests, mostly for disorderly conduct when a group of protesters tried to push through a barrier.
Most of the Occupy Wall Street protesters have returned to their base at Zuccotti park and the area now appears to be quieter. The park is reported to be "packed" and that a mini "general assembly" the protesters' main discussion forum, is taking place.
Police officers have erected extra barricades around Zuccotti park and other streets in Lower Manhattan. The streets in the Financial District are now largely quiet.
A senior New York police officer swings his baton to try and stop protesters from entering Wall Street. Photograph: Craig Ruttle/AP
We'll be back with more live coverage tomorrow, starting with a roundup of developments overnight. Thanks for reading and for commenting.
10.49pm: More video footage has emerged of a Broadway flashpoint, showing a white-shirted senior officer beating back protesters with his baton.
YouTube footage shows a senior police officer beating protesters
This footage will be pored over in the morning, with police tactics once again under scrutiny. Many protesters are asking why the actions of the police seem to lead to confrontational situations, which the organisers of the Occupy Wall Street movement are so desperate to avoid.
9.10pm: This video, uploaded to YouTube by the citizen journalism website wearechange.org, shows scuffles breaking out between police and protesters. The location isn't identified, but it's clearly one of the intersections at the south end of Broadway.
Video from the Wall Street protests
It shows officers drawing their nightsticks, beating some protesters and making a number of arrests. There are also dark-suited officers in plain clothes who appear to be directing the action.
Towards the end of the video, a protester claims to have been pepper-sprayed. I've seen a number of reports of pepper sprayings, but I've not had a reliable first-hand account yet.
8.37pm: Police on horseback have moved in and barricades have been deployed on Wall Street proper, according to Salon writer Justin Elliot on the scene. He tweets this picture from Broadway and Cedar, where police are preventing people from crossing the street, and another that shows tensions between police and protesters there.
8.30pm: This is Matt Wells taking over from Adam Gabbatt. The situation at the Wall Street protest is becoming increasingly tense. There's a flashpoint on the intersection of Broadway and Cedar Street, with reports of a number of arrests. Police have deployed orange netting to contain protesters. Subway trains have been ordered not to stop at Wall Street station.
6.59pm: Paul Harris queries: "How do you fit 15,000 people into Zuccotti Park?" The answer? "You can't. Streets jammed in Manhattan."
Others are tweeting that the rear of the march is still backed up onto Broadway.
6.33pm: The demonstration has returned to Zuccotti, according to the Guardian's Paul Harris. The park "now feels like kind of a NYC neighbourhood. Library, cafe, lots going on. Not temporary," he adds. The New York Observer's Adrianne Jeffries says the march is "perambulating" around Zuccotti now presumably due to a lack of space.
Questions are once again being asked about police tactics video footage shows officers beating some protesters with batons. Despite the march having a permit, and the roads being closed, police funnelled protesters onto the sidewarks and into tightly-penned areas. This appears to have led to the frustration: police say they made about 12 arrests, mostly for disorderly conduct when a group of protesters tried to push through a barrier.
Most of the Occupy Wall Street protesters have returned to their base at Zuccotti park and the area now appears to be quieter. The park is reported to be "packed" and that a mini "general assembly" the protesters' main discussion forum, is taking place.
Police officers have erected extra barricades around Zuccotti park and other streets in Lower Manhattan. The streets in the Financial District are now largely quiet.
A senior New York police officer swings his baton to try and stop protesters from entering Wall Street. Photograph: Craig Ruttle/AP
We'll be back with more live coverage tomorrow, starting with a roundup of developments overnight. Thanks for reading and for commenting.
10.49pm: More video footage has emerged of a Broadway flashpoint, showing a white-shirted senior officer beating back protesters with his baton.
YouTube footage shows a senior police officer beating protesters
This footage will be pored over in the morning, with police tactics once again under scrutiny. Many protesters are asking why the actions of the police seem to lead to confrontational situations, which the organisers of the Occupy Wall Street movement are so desperate to avoid.
9.10pm: This video, uploaded to YouTube by the citizen journalism website wearechange.org, shows scuffles breaking out between police and protesters. The location isn't identified, but it's clearly one of the intersections at the south end of Broadway.
Video from the Wall Street protests
It shows officers drawing their nightsticks, beating some protesters and making a number of arrests. There are also dark-suited officers in plain clothes who appear to be directing the action.
Towards the end of the video, a protester claims to have been pepper-sprayed. I've seen a number of reports of pepper sprayings, but I've not had a reliable first-hand account yet.
8.37pm: Police on horseback have moved in and barricades have been deployed on Wall Street proper, according to Salon writer Justin Elliot on the scene. He tweets this picture from Broadway and Cedar, where police are preventing people from crossing the street, and another that shows tensions between police and protesters there.
8.30pm: This is Matt Wells taking over from Adam Gabbatt. The situation at the Wall Street protest is becoming increasingly tense. There's a flashpoint on the intersection of Broadway and Cedar Street, with reports of a number of arrests. Police have deployed orange netting to contain protesters. Subway trains have been ordered not to stop at Wall Street station.
6.59pm: Paul Harris queries: "How do you fit 15,000 people into Zuccotti Park?" The answer? "You can't. Streets jammed in Manhattan."
Others are tweeting that the rear of the march is still backed up onto Broadway.
6.33pm: The demonstration has returned to Zuccotti, according to the Guardian's Paul Harris. The park "now feels like kind of a NYC neighbourhood. Library, cafe, lots going on. Not temporary," he adds. The New York Observer's Adrianne Jeffries says the march is "perambulating" around Zuccotti now presumably due to a lack of space.
"Let me issue and control a nation's money and I care not who writes the laws. - Mayer Rothschild
"Civil disobedience is not our problem. Our problem is civil obedience! People are obedient in the face of poverty, starvation, stupidity, war, and cruelty. Our problem is that grand thieves are running the country. That's our problem!" - Howard Zinn
"If there is no struggle there is no progress. Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did and never will" - Frederick Douglass
"Civil disobedience is not our problem. Our problem is civil obedience! People are obedient in the face of poverty, starvation, stupidity, war, and cruelty. Our problem is that grand thieves are running the country. That's our problem!" - Howard Zinn
"If there is no struggle there is no progress. Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did and never will" - Frederick Douglass