Occupy Wall Street March Across Brooklyn Bridge To Mark Arrests
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork/AP) -- Occupy Wall Street protesters marched across the Brooklyn Bridge to mark the six months that have passed since hundreds of them were arrested walking the same route. With a crowd of about 200, Sunday's march was a far cry from the previous one of over 2,000
The activists marched from Manhattan's Zuccotti Park, where they first camped out last September to start a movement that has spread around the world. They were flanked by police officers on scooters and on foot.
The marchers used the pedestrian walkway to cross the bridge. The commemoration ended with a rally in Brooklyn's Cadman Plaza, which wrapped up just as rain started to fall.
Sonia Rincon of 1010 WINS spoke with several of the marchers:
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There were no reports of arrests.
One of the marchers, wearing green hospital garb and wheeling an intravenous bag, unfurled a banner saying "Health Care for the 99 percent." Occupy activists dubbed themselves the "99 percent" opposing the economic inequality represented by the wealthy "1 percent."
The Brooklyn gathering included a "General Assembly" -- as Occupy supporters called their daily meetings in Zuccotti Park, where they discussed various protest topics.
Danny Valdez, one of the protesters arrested six months ago, told Rincon: "We're adapting, and that's kind of the beautiful thing of 'Occupy'. We didn't necessarily have to take the roadway and get arrested all over again, but we could have a march with a beautiful puppet bridge."
The replica, complete with minature protesters holding signs, was carried to Cadman Plaza.
Bob Broadhurst, 54, of Hyde Park, Mass., a member of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, glanced across the crowd of dwindling protesters, shook his head and said it was "very disappointing."
He said he expects the charges from the arrests to be dropped.
"It's complicated because nothing has changed since the fall in terms of the causes, but nobody wants to take a political position stance," said Thor Caristo, 37, of New York, when asked about the future of the movement.
"However, May 1 will change that," he said, referring to planned May Day marches and rallies backed by the nation's largest unions.
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