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Occupy Wall Street heads to Washington Sq. Park – Metro US

Occupy Wall Street heads to Washington Sq. Park

The Occupy Wall Street protesters are set to march to Washington Square park at 3 p.m. today, according to reports, and they may even try to set up a new permanent camp there as well.

The OWS crowd has been camped out in Zuccotti Park in Lower Manhattan since Sept. 17 and they say their ranks have gotten so big that they need to find a second camping ground.

Their past two Saturday marches have ended in arrests.

Last Saturday, over 700 of the protesters were handcuffed when they tried to walk across the car lanes of the Brooklyn Bridge. Earlier this week, 23 protesters were arrested outside the New York Stock Exchange. Police said they tried to storm police barricades.

The previous Saturday, protesters were arrested and some pepper sprayed when they marched on Union Square.

Meanwhile, Mayor Michael Bloomberg slammed the protesters this weekend, saying they are wrong in targeting the finance industry and are
“trying to destroy the jobs of working people in the city.”

Bloomberg also decried the city’s labor unions, who came out by the thousands earlier this week to march with the protesters. Union wages “come from the taxes paid by the people they’re trying
to vilify,” said the mayor, referring to companies in the financial sector.

Of the protesters’ concerns over high unemployment and poverty, Bloomberg said:

“Some are legit, some aren’t.”

As Metro reported on Friday, the NYPD has shelled out $2 million in overtime to police the protesters.