Police in New York City on Saturday arrested 80 protesters who were taking part in the “Occupy Wall Street” rally.
One protester told the Wall Street Journal :
“On our march from Union Square the cops proceeded to use nets to round up people.” The 24-year-old protester added, “They split the group into two. As far as I understood, they arrested everyone in the nets.”
The large group of anti-Wall Street protesters gathered to speak out against big banks and the wealthiest American’s more commonly referred to as the “top 1%.”
The rally received word of mouth largely from Twitter and Facebook followers to the event.
Originally the NYPD said they wouldn’t arrest people who chose to protest however rally organizers failed to obtain a permit and police moved forward with arrests.
Even before the roundup occurred some protesters said they heard rumors of coming arrests. One protester noted:
“There’s a lot of speculation that the police are going to throw us out.”
When all was said and done hundreds of people showed up to protest and during their efforts they asked passers-by to sign a petition to support “the rights of Americans to assemble and practice their rights to free speech and thought.”
I highly doubt any type of permit would have been granted in the first place, besides it’s not like they were disrupting Wall Street workers all that much on a Saturday afternoon.
Do you think the New York Police Department should have kept their promise to allow for a peaceful demonstration?