Associated Press
NEW YORK — About 80 people were arrested Saturday as demonstrators who were camped out near the New York Stock Exchange marched through lower Manhattan, police said.
The “Occupy Wall Street” protest is entering its second week. Demonstrators said Saturday they were protesting against bank bailouts and the mortgage crisis; some also held signs decrying Georgia’s execution of Troy Davis, who was put to death Wednesday for the 1989 slaying of an off-duty Savannah police officer.
At Manhattan’s Union Square, police tried to corral the demonstrators using orange plastic netting. Some of the arrests were filmed and activists posted the videos online. One video appears to show officers using pepper spray on women who already were cordoned off; another shows officers handcuffing a man after pulling him up off the ground, blood trickling down his face.
Police say the arrests were mostly for blocking traffic. Charges include disorderly conduct and resisting arrest. But one demonstrator was charged with assaulting a police officer. Police say the officer involved suffered a shoulder injury.
Protest spokesman Patrick Bruner criticized the police response as “exceedingly violent” and said the demonstrators sought to remain peaceful.
A police spokesman had no comment about the videos or the arrests.
Copyright 2011 Associated Press