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Summary At least 700 people were arrested during Anti-Wall Street protest on New York's Brooklyn Bridge.
US activists decrying corporate greed planned Sunday to fight on near Wall Street after more than 700 protesters were arrested on the Brooklyn Bridge as they defied police and stalled traffic.The activists, many of whom have been camped out in Manhattan for two weeks, were detained Saturday during their biggest demonstration yet against government-backed banking bailouts and corporate influence in US politics.Police said most of those arrested were issued criminal court summons and citations for disorderly conduct before being released later in the day.Only a minimal amount of protesters remained behind bars on Sunday, a New York Police Department spokesman said, declining to provide exact figures.The Occupy Wall Street movement, inspired by pro-democracy Arab Spring movements roiling North Africa and the Middle East, planned to hold more meetings and forums on Sunday a few blocks from the financial district.Its next march on Wall Street was set for Wednesday afternoon.During an impromptu protest to Brooklyn, demonstrators walked up to the bridge, then spreading to not only the pedestrian walkway but also the roadway, bringing traffic to a halt and forcing police to shutter the bridge for several hours.Another NYPD spokesman said there were several hundred protesters who decided to walk on the roadway and who blocked traffic. Some heeded the warnings, some left, and arrests were made.Some of the demonstrators carried hand-drawn placards that read End the Fed and Pepper spray Goldman Sachs in what police described as a peaceful protest that nevertheless saw hundreds detained for public order offenses.Claims that British rock group Radiohead would be performing in support of the movement in Manhattan proved false, and activists apologized for what they blamed on miscommunication about a hoax.The anti-Wall Street activists began their campaign by occupying Zuccotti Park, in the heart of Manhattans financial district, on September 17 and have since held protests outside the New York Stock Exchange and NYPD headquarters.
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